/ / 't-il O ' ^ ' • » ^ resekvs s CONNECTICUT . t AR Agricultural Experiment Station NE^V HAVEN, CONN. BULLETIN 191, APRIL, 1916. TESTS OF SOY BEANS, 1915. By E. H. JENKINS, JOHN PHILLIPS STREET AND C. D. HUBBELL. Corn and Soy Beans at Mt. Carmel. CONTENTS. Page Yield of Seed from new, unnamed Varieties 3 Report on named Varieties grown in 1915 4 Number of Days to Maturity 5 Comparison of Average Yields in 1914 and 1915 5 Comparison of Varieties 6 Comparison of Yield of Feed of Soy Beans, Alfalfa and Ensilage Corn and of Mixtures 7 Note on Time of Planting 8 Soy Beans as Green Manure 9 Results of Field Tests on Soy Beans 9 Directions for planting Soy Beans 13 Soy Beans as Food for Diabetics 13 The Bulletins of this Station are mailed free to citizens of Con- necticut who apply for them, and to others as far as the editions permit. CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. OFFICERS AND STAFF. BOARD OF CONTROL. His Excellency, Marcus H. Holcomb, ex-officio, President. Prof. H. W. Conn, Vice President Middletown George A. Hopson, Secretary Wallingford E. H. Jenkins, Director and Treasurer New Haven Joseph W. Alsop Avon Wilson H. Lee Orange Frank H. Stadtmueller Elmwood James H. Webb Hamden Administration. E. H. Jenkins, Ph.D., Director and Treasurer. Miss V. E. Cole, Librarian and Stenographer. Miss L. M. Brautlecht, Bookkeeper and Stenographer. William Veitch, In charge of Buildings and Grounds. Chemistry. Analytical Laboratory. John Phillips Street, M.S., Chemist in Charge. E. Monroe Bailey, Ph.D., C. B. Morison, B.S., C. E. Shepard, G. L. Davis, Assistants. Hugo Lange, Laboratory Helper. V. L. Churchill, Sampling Agent. Miss E. B. Whittlesey, Stenographer. Proteid Research. Botany. Entomology. Forestry. Plant Breeding. Vegetable Growing. T. B. Osborne, Ph.D., D.Sc. Chemist in Charge. Miss E. L. Ferry, M.S., Assistant. G. P. Clinton, Sc.D., Botanist. E. M. Stoddard, B.S., Assistant Botanist. Miss E. B. Whittlesey, Herbarium Assistant. G. E. Graham, General Assistant. W. E. Britton, Ph.D., Entomologist; State Entomologist. B. H. Walden, B.Agr., First Assistant. Q. S. Lowry, B.Sc., I. W. Davis, B.Sc, I . . , , TUT T. T X. c ( Assistants. ■ M. P. Zappe, B.S., ' Miss G. A. Foote, B.A., Stenographer. Walter O. Filley, Forester; also State Forester and State Forest Fire Warden. A. E. Moss, M.F., Assistant Station Forester. Miss E. L. Avery, Stenographer. Donald F. Jones, B.S., Plant Breeder. C. D. HuBBELL, Assistant. Howard F. Huber, B.S. TESTS OF SOY BEANS IN 1915. By E. H. Jenkins,* John Phillips Street and c. d. hubbell This Bulletin is a continuation of the study of the soy bean under Connecticut conditions, which has been carried on for some years and has been described in part in Bulletins 179 and 185. It presents the data gathered in 1915. Yield of Seed From New, Unnamed Varieties. Twenty varieties, chiefly new introductions, as yet unnamed, were grown in 19 15 in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, to determine their period of growth and yield of seed. It was not possible to determine their yield of forage. The results are given in Table I. These varieties were planted May 26 in rows 30 inches apart, plants standing about 4 inches apart in the row. The calculated area for each variety was 250 square feet or only y-fj of an acre. Soy beans had been grown on this same land for two years pre- viously, between the trees in an apple orchard five years old. This land was dressed in 19 15 with 45 pounds of nitrogen and 95 pounds of phosphoric acid in form of nitrate of soda, acid phosphate and tankage. No potash was applied because of its scarcity and high price. Table I. Unnamed Varieties of Soy Beans Grown in 191 5. Yield per Date of Days to Acre in. No. Blossom. Maturity. Bushels. 37063 July 12 97 19.6 36914 " 14 97 18.6 36919 " 18 100 26.1 36653 " 14 100 22.9 * Mr. C. D. Hubbell, the farm manager, has had charge of the field work and gathering the field data, the chemical work has been done under the direction of Mr. J. P. Street, chief chemist, and the results have been arranged and discussed by the director. CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN I9I. No. 3691 5 30744 28050 30600 30601 37062 37571 37572 30594 36916 30747 30599 37573 30746 36829 30593 Date of Blossom. Days to Maturity. Yield per Acre in Bushels. July 18 107 24.1 ' 18 109 21.6 ' 20 109 19.3 ' 18 III 19-3 ' 18 HI 19-3 * 20 III 29.6 ' 18 III 21.6 ' 18 III 28.0 ' 18 114 19.7 ' 18 119 23.2 ' 25 121 19.0 ' 20 126+ 31-2 ' 20 126+ 30.6 ' 20 130+ 28.7 Aug. 12 142+ 19.7 ' ' 15 152+ .... The last variety did not mature seed, being killed by frost. Four others, marked -f , did not mature their seed uniformly at one time but it was dry when threshed and lost no weight during a month's storage. The average yield of all varieties was at the rate of 23.3 bushels per acre. No comparison of the yields of these varieties is attempted because of the small size of the plots and lack of duplication. We are advised that No. 30744 is Black Eyebrow. Fifteen of these 20 varieties could be grown for forage and even seed production in the southern part of the state, and fully half of them would give a crop of forage anywhere in Connecticut. Report on Named Varieties Grown in 191 5. In Table II are given the data regarding named varieties grown by the Station, being the same as those grown in 1914 and described in Bulletin 185. Quebec 92 and Quebec 537 obtained from Macdonald College, Quebec, appear to be selections of Ito San. Kentucky is a mixed variety from Manchuria, grown one year in Kentucky and one year in Connecticut. The beans were planted May 19th in the same orchard and with the same treatment as those already described. They were cultivated a few times but not after July i. YIELD OF NAMED VARIETIES. 5 The figures given in the table are chiefly interesting in com- parison with those for the same varieties grown last year and given in Bulletin 185. Number of Days to Maturity — The number of days to matur- ity was slightly greater this year than last, Hollybrook and Peking were 15 days later, Quebec and Arlington 10 days later in 19 1 5, and the other thirteen varieties were not more than 6 days apart in time of maturity in the two years. The crops in 19 15 were perhaps a little less mature when cut for forage. They contained 7.1 per cent more water than those of 1914. Comparison of Average Yields in IQ14 and IQ15 — Further comparison of average yields follows, based only on those varieties which were grown for two years until harvest without accident, and expressed in pounds per acre. Dry Forage. Matter. Protein. Seed. Thirteen varieties in 1914 I73S7 S275 902 1438 Same varieties in 191 5 16941 4056 739 1408 The average, maximum and minimum yields per acre in the two years (of those varieties only which were successfully grown in both years) are as follows: — Fresh Forage. Dry Matter. Protein in Pounds. Max. Min. Av. Max. Min. Av. Max. Min. Av. 1914 10.6 6.5 8.6 3.1 1.6 2.6 1,116 624 902 1915 9-9 S-9 8.4 2.6 1.3 2.0 1,001 475 739 Nitrogen in Pounds. Seed in Bushels. Max. Min. Av. Max. Min. Av. 1914 178 99 144 30.9 148 23.9 1915 160 j6 119 29.0 18.6 23.4 The average yield of dry feed was about 1200 pounds less in 1915 than in 1914. The dry feed was however somewhat richer in protein in 1915, containing about 18.2 per cent, whereas the same varieties in 1914 contained 17.1 per cent. 6 CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN I9I. Table II. Yield of Soy Beans at Mt. Carmel Field, 191 5. Data regarding yield of forage. Variety. >> S ^ 0. ■ Pi o.S a ■30" Yield of seed per acre. per cent per cent pounds pounds pounds pounds bushels Ito San Quebec No. 537 Medium Yellow Quebec No. 92 Manhattan Kentucky O'Kute Ebony Medium Green Wilson ^ Mongol Morse Mikado Arlington Swan 114 114 114 *ii4 114 119 119 119 126 126 126 126 126 134 134 139 139 145 78.55 75-07 78.58 63.26 78.82 76.46 73-07 73-11 73.78 78.23 77-93 77-86 73.98 77.08 77.29 75.77 75.38 4.46 5.70 4.84 9-51 4.52 3.87 5.86 5-42 4-63 4.24 4.01 4.20 3-35 3.63 3-52 3-09 4.82 17,249 I4,9«5 15,856 5,672 16,030 19,863 19,341 17,076 17,076 19,689 18,992 11,848 17,947 14,985 22,477 14,288 18,818 16,901 3,699 2,736 3,396 2,084 3,395 4,676 4,598 4,592 5,162 4,135 2,61s 3,973 3,899 5,152 3,24s 4,560 4,161 769 854 767 539 72s 769 1,001 926 912 80s 475 754 502 816 503 581 81S 1,313 1,629 1,307 1,368 1,246 1,368 1,594 1,742 1,237 1,307 1,464 1,272 1,316 1,307 1,220 1,115 749 1,072 21.9 27.1 21.8 22.8 20.8 22.8 26.6 29.0 20.6 21.8 24.4 21.2 21.9 21.8 20."? Peking Cloud HoUybrook . . . 18.6 12.5 / 17-9 From this it appears that the average harvest of green forage and also of seed was but little smaller in 191 5 than in the previous year. But when cut for forage in 1915 only about three-quarters as much dry matter and protein were harvested as in 1914. The crops of green forage in 1914 contained an average of only 69.0 per cent of water when cut, whereas those in 1915 contained 76.1, a difference of 7.1 per cent. Soy beans have been grown on the same land for three years in succession, which may account in part at least for the some- what smaller yields in 1915. Comparison of Varieties — The results of two years' tests of those varieties which grew successfully in both years, indicate that the Wilson, Ebony and Cloud were in both years among the six which yielded most dry matter in the green forage. These are small, black seeded varieties. Cloud is distinctly twining, Ebony is erect but falls easily. We consider Manhattan, Arlington and Kentucky to be excellent kinds also. * Past maturity, leaves falling. COMPARISON OF SOY BEANS, ALFALFA AND CORN. 7 Kentucky is a mixture of similar strains. By selection, these have been separated this year and two of the most promising are to be propagated. The soy bean appears to cross fertilize sparingly. The early, medium and late varieties which we have grown are given below, and in each group the varieties are in the order of their maturing, the earliest first. Early Varieties — Mature in 104-118 days. Quebec 92, Quebec 537, Medium Yellow, Ito San, Kentucky, Manhattan, Ebony. Medium Varieties — Mature in 120-124 days. Medium Green, Mongol, Mikado, Peking, O'Kute, Wilson, Arlington. Late Varieties — Mature in 130-135 days. Hollybrook, Swan, Morse and Cloud. As is to be expected, the earliest maturing varieties yield less dry forage than the others. The latest varieties as a rule yield rather more than the earliest and the medium maturing varieties have been, in general, the most productive. Comparison of the Yield of Feed of Soy Beans, Alfalfa and Ensilage Corn and of Mixtures — The tests made in the last two years fix with sufficient accuracy the approximate average yield of forage which may be expected from an acre of soy beans cut when the foliage is still green but mature. There may fairly be expected at least 8^ tons of fresh forage having the following composition: For comparison is given in Table III the average yield of seven varieties of ensilage corn Table III. Yield and Composition of Soy Bean Forage, Alfalfa and Ensilage Corn. Mature Soy Bean Forage. Alfalfa. Ensilage Corn. "2 t ii <«*. t ^