The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-06
SOLDIERS fOCD, CATTLE FOOD, DYNAMITE AND HIGH EXPLOSIVES
 ATE MADE FROM SOFA BEANS
Germans Have Also Deve1- oped This Product As g. Substitute For Lard and Olive Oil.

Chang Chun, Manchuria, March G. British efforts to prevent soya beans from getting into the hands of Ger mans and the discussion in the British Parliament of the many uses to which these beans can be put in connection with the war, have attracted the worlds attention to this city, the greatest soya bean market in the world.
 Before the interruption of the bean trade by the war, the value of soya beans exported from China was var iously estimated from 25.OO0,0OO to 40, 100000 gold dollars annually.
 Manchuria is the home of soya beans and nearly 75 per cent. of the beans produced on the plains of Northern China are shipped on the railroads centering in Changchun. The railroad north from here to Harbin is under Russian control, and beans going that direction are transferred at Harbiin and sent to V1adivostok for exportation in normal times. The railroad south of Changchun is under Japanese control, and beans going out that direction pass through Mukden and on south to the port of Dairen.
 Few products of the soil have such varied uses as soya beans. In the hands of Germans who have developed it's possibilities to it's fullest extent, the ssoya bean would provide sustaining ration for soldiers, food for cattle, and of great value also for use in the man ufacture of dynamite and high ex- pIosiveS.
 Within 10 years there have been marvellous discoveries concerning the uses for soya beans. When the Japan csc overran the plains of Manchuria in their contest with Russia, they first saw the possibilities of the beans so " r. ians. Experts on the extraction of vegetable oils from the value of the bean oil, and practically all the na- tions of Europe began an investigation of this marvellous product. which had formerly been used chiefly by foreign CTS in the manufacture of sauce.
 Warehouses have sprung up on the wharves at V1adivostok and Dairen which handle little else but beans, and the great jute bags containing the Iegumes pour into the two ports by the trainload and suggest Portland, and Washington wheat drains down the Columbia river valley for expor- tation.
 Great storage warehouses have also been erected in this city by firms rep resenting the European countries, as well as Japan, but the Germans be- came pre-eminent in the trade and
 
 ment of the possibilities of the bean.
 The soya bean yields a heavy per centage of vegetable oil of sort well adapted to scores of uses. This is available for food products. It makes a substitute for lard and for olive oil and is utilized in o1eomargarine and various other better substitutes. It enters into the manufacture of var nishes and paints and is used in ini- tating rubber. Chinese farmers use the residue of the bean, after extract ing the oil, for fertilizer, and it is now coming into general use in many other sections for the same purpose. Bean cake is now sought in the dairy coun- tries of Europe for cattle food, especi- ally in Denmark. A large factory has been constructed in Copenhagen to treat beans.
 Soya beans produced in Manchuria are of three classes. the yellow, the green, and the black bean. The yellow bean is most used in export trade. It has a pod which varies in length from one and one-half to two inches and is produced on a stem which grows up- right to a height of about three feet in good soil.
 The bean section of Manchuria re- sembIes Canadian wheat districts. Frequently along the Manchurian rail ways there are districts where the only crop on the rolling prair1es for a hundred miles is beans. They are ex- tensive1y cultivated by the Chinese, who have very small tracts of land and keep their entire families busy hoeing and wedding tho beans.
 There are few fences in this coun- try Division lines are generally marked by low heaps of earth and in all directions there are family grave yards, with many round mounds and scrubby trees planted in honor of an cestors As in all parts of China, the farmers live in villages. Consequently few buildings are seen in the open country. The blowing is all done with cattle and tiny donkeys hitched to, old fashioned blows entirely of wood.