THE SAYO BEAN

Grey River Argus, 15 April 1911, Page 2

THE SAYO BEAN

Will the soya beam "boom" extend to Victoria, asks the Age?" Present indications are that it will. In the meantime the 'bean is here, if not the' "/boom," and the plant is thriving" remaikably well-... Last year the Department of Agriculture secured four tons of the seed from Shangahi, and planted some on its experimental plot at Cheltenham, where the bean attained a height of five feet on sandy soil, one variety yielding 3 tons and another 12 tons to the acre. On different soil at Ballarat an even more vigorous growth is shown. Mr J. M. B. Connor, Superintendent of Agriculture, said recently that he considered ithe plant greatly beneficial 'to the soil 'by the nitrogen •. which the nodules extracted from the air. The uses of the soya :bean are manifold. A Chinese in ...Victoria was handed a parcel of the ibeans to convert them into merchantable goods. He made them into bottled preparations knowns as soya mijk, soya cream, coya currants, soya cheese, straws for making soup and soya curd, which the Japanese use as a cure for sciatica. In Manchuria the bean is primarily utilised for its oil extract and the manufacture of cake. The London "Times" reports that soya beans are now one of the principle imports at Hull, and are likely to affect the imports of cotton seed. Their value is widely recognised by soaprtiakers. The first commercial crop was sent to Europe in 1906, and the requirements from Manchuria fo rthe coming season are estimated at 1,000,000 tons, worth £6,500,000. That, Victorian farmers are alive to the possibilities of the soya bean is shown iby the fact that Mr Connor disposed of two tons and a half of the seed in small lots in one day.