The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1919-05-23
FARM BUREAU NOTES
An Dat Substitute

Because Of an unusual large rain
fall this Spring, a considerable num-
ber of the farmers of Van Buren have
failed to get in their usual or antici-
pated acreage of oats. This means
that some crops will need to be plant
ed on a large amount of land which
was to have been devoted to oats and
that crops will need to be planted at
such a time as will cause it to con-
flict more or less with the latter
planted crops.
Few farmers grow oats as a cash
crop, the most of the oats being
grown for the express purpose of be-
ing fed to stock on the farm. The
one crop which will come the nearest
to filling the place left vacant by the
weather interfering with the sowing
of normal acreage of oats is the
soy bean crop. The soy bean is hardy
and frost resistant to a certain eX-
tent and can be planted early on land
which was fitted for oats, this before
the rush of corn planting comes on.
While soy beans will not yield near
ly as many bushels of grain to the
acre as oats, each bushel weighs
nearly twice as much as a bushel of
oats and the feeding value, pound for
pound, is about equal to that of oil
meal. In addition to the grain, the
straw Of the soy bean makes very
satisfactory forage for sheep and
cattle. If soy beans are grown for
grain in Van Buren, County, only the
earlier varieties such as the San,
Black Eyebrow, Manchu, or Ogemaw
should be used.
Soy beans can be planted for grain
about as fast as oats can be sowed
by making use of the grain drill arid
sowing in rows % inches apart. To
SOW this way, from 3-8 to 1-2 bushel
of seed will be required to the acre
the exact amount depending upon the
variety used as the seeds of the
different varieties vary in size some
what Soy beans should never be
sowed on land which has not grown
the crop before without inoculating
the seed with pureculture or the
field with soil from an old soy bean
field, and this is a pretty safe rule to
follow even where a field has been in
soy beans before, unless the field
was in soy beans last season.
II looks as though the soy bean
codld be of considerable value to the
| farmers of the county this year and
the Farm Bureau office will be glad
to help any interested party to locate
seed and procure culture for inocula-
tion, also to help work out systems
of inOculating and sowing the seed
| and later on harvesting the crop for
grain or hay. There will be a soy
bean variety test on at least four
farms in the county this year where
FIVE varieties will be grown under as
near identical conditions as it will be
possible to make and studies in re-
gard to the adaptability of the re.
spective to our soils and the various
needs, such as soil improvers, forage
producers ard grain producers vii
be made. Some valuable conclusion:
are expected to develope from thi:
line Of work. We hope to have the
different varieties at the different
farms, properly placarded during tn,
growing season so all interested par
ties can visit the different farms anC
stuoy the varieties for themselves.
Corn Variety Tests
In Cooperation with the Farm
Crops Department Of M. A. c. tn,
local Farm Bureau will start variet!
tests on several farms in the county
In each test from six to ten varietie,