THE SOYA BEAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10299, 2 November 1911, Page 2

THE SOYA BEAN.

A very interesting report of experiments made in the cultivation of tho soya bean at tho Kamerutiga State Nursery, near Cairns, has been inserted, in the "Queensland Agricultural Journal." Several plots were sown at periods from May, 1910, till February, 1911, and tho results tabulated. Experiments -were niado with tho yellow variety from Manchuria, Tolga and Japan, the black from Shanghai, % and also with some red varieties, but in no case were the results very encouraging. The crpps from tho May sowings wero very poor. The Juno sowings germinated •well, especially tho Shanghai black and the Tolga yellows. Tho Japanese yellow produced, the largest bean, and the two yellows grow to the height of 12in to 16in. Those sown later wero attacked with weevils and tho bean fly; and, though they podded Avell, growing an average of twenty-one. pods 1 to a plant and two beans to_ a pod, yet the heavy rains and storms injured tho plants, and the bearing generally was poor. The manager of tho nursery, in dealing with tho question of cultivating tho soya, bean in Queensland, says: ''For successful cultivation in the Australian tropics, it has been shown that this bean requires good, moist soils, and not too much rain after sowing. In America it is quoted as standing excessive moisture well, and better than cowpeas, and tho Peradiniyi (Ceylon) results seem to corroborate tliis; but hero tho experience is tho opposite. Our heavy tropical rains materially affected the soya bean plants, while cowpcas alongside withstood them. The growth was found the quickest in tho colder weather. In tho warmer mouths tho growth was greater, but slower. Plants obtained from August.sowings were the best, both in growth and grain." lie savs the actual range of tho xjlant is difficult to ascertain. But the drier part? of tho tropics would probably suit it. Tf planted about the end of the wet season about Mackay, towards Central Queensland, at Bo wen or Maroeba in the north, or on the higher parts of the plateau behind Cairns, at 1/50' Oft to 2000 ft above sea-level, soya beans mieht prove very successful, and he concludes by stating, " while the experiments at the Kamonmga State Nursery have in so:»e 'Ti'pts differed from, and in others agreed with, experiments in other places and countries, even allowing for the .season, as yet tho soya bean has not i-hown itself capable of sustaining the valuable attributes ascribed to it in comparison with other legumes under tho climatic and soil conditions obtain■ing in Nort)i Queensland." The experiments aro. of course, being continued, and it may yet prove to bo all ami more Hum it has been stated to be; but neither in respect to grain or fodder can its extensive* culture yet ho adrooaled. and tho advice of the Department of Agriculture in New South Wale* can only, so far, be reiterated, as applying to North Queensland, namely, that farmers and settlers should try it in r. small way to see if it suite their district, soil and climate.