The Soybean

Abstract

THE soybean, also known as the soya or soja bean, is a plant with very great agricultural and industrial possibilities, and although it is not grown in Great Britain to any extent, it has figured more and more largely in American agriculture of recent years. The plant is a native of Eastern Asia, its wild form being still found in China, Manchuria, and Korea. As a foodstuff it has been of prime importance in China and Japan since ancient times; to a great extent it supplies the population of these countries with the nitrogenous food needed in the diet. Some idea of its importance in the Far East is conveyed by the fact that the 1921 crop in Manchuria exceeded 4,500,000 tons, while in Japan more than one million acres are grown annually.

The Soybean.

By C. V. Piper W. J. Morse. (Agricultural and Biological Publications.) Pp. xv + 329. (London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1923.) 20s.