FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 March 1922, Page 8

FARM AND DAIRY.

A MAGIC BEAN. PROMISING NEW INDUSTRY. FOR FARMERS AND MANUFACTURERS. A leading article in the Times (London) of September 28 last speaks in glowing terms of the great commercial possibilities of growing soya Deans within the Empire, while the Illustrated London News of October 8, 1921, devotes two pages with several illustrations advocating the exploitation of the soya bean in creating new industries which will prove of great benefit not only to farmers, but also to manufacturers of many and varied products. ' Mr. G. Parr (president) brought the matter up as one of interest, before the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, on Monday night. Soya beans, he said, in addition to having several food values, such as flour, milk, cheese, bread, etc., had many advantages in the industrial world. According to the illustrated London Nows, the commercial uses of, the soya beans are as follows: —Lubrication,* cattle food, illumination, glycerince, paints, varnish, celluloid, printing inks, india-rubber substitutes, coffee substitutes, butter substitutes, waterproofs, explosives, flour, bread, milk, bean cakes, bean cheese salad dressings, soap and linoleum. The foregoing statement, said Mr. Parr, should be sufficient at anyrate to create enough enthusiasm to get the I fullest information with a view to in- | teresting the whole of the Waikato in i what appears to be a promising new I key of numerous industries. The data which he had given were taken from probably the most influential daily and I weekly papers published in England, and their utterances carried weight wherever the English language wa»s spoken. The articles were printed with a view to giving a new outlook to farImers and manufacturers during the [present period of world-wide depression.

One writer in the Times said: “The appearance and rapid rise into importance of the soya bean is one of the most remarkable commercial events of modern times,” and further “the manufacture of flour, bread and milk substitutes from the soya bean are likely to do good if they help us to

realise how much jwe are losing by I our neglect of this, the most valuable I—for1 —for the many uses it can be put—of all the legumes.” j Another writer states that the soya bean, apart from its undisputed food value, which is.great, has many manufacturing values. The food uses to which the soya bean is put in China and Japan would need many pages to describe. It is also largely used in con(fectionejy. To the farmer it is valua stock food and forage. It ■ grows well in arid situations and, conversely,/in soils too moist for other crops. It is not affected by drought, and for this reason is extremely valuable in districts where ’ there is little rainfall. It needs little attention and costs little to grow. By means of the nodules on its roots it enriches the soil, and maturing in a hundred to a ' hundred and thirty days, can be used after another crop has failed. I The average composition of the soya bean, is:—Oil. 18 per cent.; water, 10 per cent.; albuminoids, 40 per cent.; carbohydrates, 22 per cent.; crude fibre, 5 per cent.; aslj, 5 per cent. The The soya bean grows in:—Manchuria, Japan, India, W. Coast of Africa, Britain, Germany and New Zealand. The bean was first cultivated in China 5000 years ago.

Mr. Parr said ho had submitted these J few brief extracts culled from responsible journals for the consideration of members, If anyone was desirous ot further information, he*would be pleased to give it. The possibilities of establishing new industries in Hamilton which would result from growing the soya bean in the Waikato on a commercial scale were obvious to the least thoughtful. The presence of hydro-elec-I trie power in town was a big prelimini ary step to the establishment of manu--1 factories here. At present we were 1 practically dependent on one product, : which was unfortunately just now facing a declining market. The advent 6f the soya bean, judging by absolutely unbiassed British Press opinions, seemed fraught with great and far-reaching i possibilities, and he hoped the members of the Chamber, and also some of Waikato's progressive farmers, would investigate its potentialities ’to the uttermost before turning the project down.