The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1918-07-13
SOY BEANS REQUIRE
GOOD SEED BED
caop FAILURES MAY BE CHANG
ED TO POOR SEED OK I'M
PROPER PLANTING,
Soy Beans May Be Grown as Money
Crop or May BE Cut
For Hay.

The soy bean has not been grown
in Louisiana to the extent that us MGR
its as an agricultural plant would Ju'-
tify. II is fairly well known TO al, |
and the fact that so many have trlei |
II and failed or else only hallway |
succeeded in growing 1t successfully |
probably accounts for its lack OF popu
larity "a farm crop.
Getting n stand of the beans mas
been the greatest obstacle to success
in growing the soy bean says w. X
Perkins, Director of Extension. LOUIS
lana State University "The taliute
to secure stand can probably De ~
tributed to one or two things, poor
seed or improper planting. The NJ "
can easily be avoided by purchasing
seed that have been tested Tor ger
mination The second trouble IS geh-
orally due to poorly prepared seed pen
or planting too deep. u Is a crop 'h',
REQUIRES better preparation OF the sou
and more care in the planting than
the average farmer is In the hablt OF
giving to his farm crops. me sou
should be well pulverized, ana ther"
should be abundance of moisture pres
ent without being too wet when the
planting Ia done. One can well aHofu
to wait for such condition in the soil
because the planting season is long
running from April 10 to July ! or
later. The seed should be covered no.
less than one inch. nor more than one
and one-half inches deep. This is IN
portant.
"The question arises as TO what the
crop is good for First. it could be
considered a money crop. The seed
are very similar in composition TO COT
ton seed. weigh about twice as much
| to the bushel. and are sought after by
| the oil mills for the oil they contain
and the feed cake that is obtained
after the oil is forced out. They
| should bring about twice as much per
| bushel as cotton seed or about the
same per ton A crop on medium grade
| land should produce about 20 bushels
| per acre. The talks after thresh'ng
make a good grade of roughage Tor
| cattle.
"There are some difficulties encoun-
| tered I'm harvesting the soy bean
| crop: There is generally lack oil
machinery for harvesting and thresh
ing and considerable loss from the
popping OF the seed pods in the field
While II is a splendid crop for the
purpose just mentioned we believe
that the really important place of the
SOY bean in Louisiana Is for the max
Ing OF hay.
"The hill and cut over pine sections
OF the state should use soy beans as
a substitute for alfalfa which will not
succeed I'm these sections. The SOY
bean will make hay fully as palatablt
and nutritious as alfalfa. 1t comes tx
maturity about the first of September
when the weather Ia usually good fol
the harvesting of hay. 1t can be saved
much better and more economically
) than cowpeas 1t will make so pc
cent more hay on the same area an
4 grade OF land than cowpeas, and, w
believe, better hay. Cultivation TO
hay is practically the same as TO
grain. Plant in drills two and one
half to three and one-half feet apar
so that the plants will not lap in TIL
row. Have plant every two or thre'
s inches in drill and harvest when tn
seed pods are full, but before the fC
q liage begins to show signs of rpen
ing. Cut with moving machine ant
throw into narrow tall cocks while still
green, allow to stand thus four to sey
0 en- days and then put in barn or stack
"All kinds of stock are. very fond o
. It. Try 1t as hay plant and be con
WINGED. Use the Mammoth Yellow o
Biloxi varieties. Inoculate the see
and plant about one-half bushel to tn
| acre"