_ A/€7l!Z¢L'kj’ Forage P!zwzfs— The C/overs and {heir A//ies. 19
If the number of tubercles produced on the roots shows its
value for this purpose, from my own experience I should con-
sider it the better plant of the two. But farmers are liable to
make the mistake of assuming from a first year’s experience
- that the soy bean will not develop tubercles on their land.
In IQOO four varieties were grown in our forage plots, and all
made a fine growth. But none of the plants developed no-
dules. They were dug up with special care to avoid the
chance of breaking the nodules off and leaving them in the V
soil. None were found. In the spring of IQOI three of these
plots were planted with seed gathered from then1 in the fall of
1900. The fourth plot was some distance away in igoo, and
it was decided to plant seeds obtained from it next the other
· three. The plot chosen for this seed bore in rgoo an imper-
fect stand of blue lupines. To my surprise the plants in the
three plots that had borne soy beans in IQOO produced tuber-
cles in IQOI in large numbers, while on those of the third plot, _
which, so far as known, had never before borne soy beans, not .
A a single tubercle was to be found.
Other plots planted from the same lots of seed, but in
another section of the forage plant garden, where soy beans
had not before been grown, bore no tubercles in rgor. Several V
plantings of considerable extent on another part of the farm
and from seeds obtained from various sources, also produced
no nodules. The soils in which all these plants grew contained
more or less nitrogenous material, and those with no tubercles
appeared to thrive as well as the others. If combined nitrogen
had been wanting in the soils it is probable that the beans
A planted on new land would have failed.
just why the tubercles should not appear the hrst year and
should appear in large numbers the second, is not at present
easy to explain. But the fact is important as offering an ex-
planation of the disappointment which some farmers experi-
ence with the plant. Plavzizbzg a second season mz {he same {ami
appears io be ueeessayy lo gel the soy hem; af work as ez ¢zz`!rog·eu
fxer. In soils deficient in combined nitrogen, the crop is at hrst
likely to languish because of failure to develop root nodules.
The 7I0(Z’1¢/65 cam he grown arlyfrialy {he frs! season. It I