History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

873. Shurtleff, William. 1981. William Morse: The father of
soybeans in America (Continued–Part II). Soyfoods No. 5. p.
56-60. Summer.
• Summary: Continued: “It is truly remarkable that the
authors were able to write such a complete and detailed
book when neither of them had been to East Asia. (Morse
would later spend two years there; 1929-1931.) Most of
the book was actually written by Morse who, nevertheless,
kindly listed Piper as the senior author. He gathered his
information and photographs by extensive correspondence
with researchers throughout East Asia and apparently drew
heavily on a large collection of books on Chinese agriculture
called the Swingle Collection, named after Walter T. Swingle
of the Offi ce of Crop Physiology, who spoke Chinese, had
traveled extensively in the Orient collecting plants and the
books, and had housed them at the USDA library, where
Morse did much of his research. Decades ahead of its time,
The Soybean soon became the standard work on the subject
and was referred to by many as ‘the soybean bible.’ Dr. Piper
died in February 1926 at the age of 69.
“Morse’s fi ne work was already starting to give real
substance to Piper’s dream. In 1920, Morse helped to found
the American Soybean Association (ASA) and thereafter
helped to unify and direct an ongoing program of research
and experimentation. Morse distributed seed from new
introductions to anyone interested in soybeans. Among his
closest contacts at the State Agricultural Experiment Stations
were W.L. Burlison in Illinois and C.B. Williams in North
Carolina. As late as 1927, most soybean agronomy research
was still done on plots in Washington, D.C. outside the
USDA south building. Morse sent out seeds to the states
but farmers had problems; they shattered at maturity, were
hard to harvest, and were abrasive on the binder canvas in
those days before combines. Thus in the early years the tide
of interest in soybeans ebbed and fl owed. Doubters were
always ready to laugh at anyone who talked of the soybean
becoming a major U.S. farm crop. But this only served to
spur Morse on to greater efforts. He was a very effective
extension worker with many contacts, a deep knowledge
of his subject, and good intuition. His desk at the USDA
soon became the clearing house for information about the
soybean. In 1927 he wrote: ‘We may keep this work going
and place the soybean where it belongs–in the King row with
King Corn and King Cotton.’
“The Dorsett-Morse Expedition to East Asia (1929-
1931): In the late 1920s it became evident to the USDA
that the soybean had defi nite promise as a crop in America
and it was decided to send W.J. Morse and P.H. Dorsett to
East Asia for two years on what was offi cially known as the
Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition (but which
people interested in soy usually call the Morse Expedition)
to ‘make investigations regarding the utilization of the
soybean in Oriental countries and the securing of varieties
that might be of value to widespread American conditions’
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 282
(Morse, 1929). In 1929 when the expedition left, Morse
was age 45 and had worked on soybeans with the USDA
for 22 years. Dorsett (1862-1943), now age 67, was a plant
explorer from the USDA Offi ce of Plant Introduction; he was
described by a fellow agricultural explorer, David Fairchild,
as one of the most ingenious and indefatigable workers he
had ever known. Whereas Morse was a specialist, interested
in soybeans, Dorsett was a generalist, interested mainly in
persimmons, but also in grasses, forages, and other plants.
“During the expedition, Morse and Dorsett kept detailed
daily journal notebooks, which were typewritten after the
trip and bound in 17 hardback volumes. These volumes,
primarily the work of Dorsett, also contain correspondence
plus thousands of black-and-white photographs taken by both
men. In the bound volumes there are several references to a
‘special report on the soybean and its products’ that Morse
intended to write. Apparently he never completed it, although
he did complete detailed chapters on tofu and soymilk. The
only original copy of the documents described above is in
the archives of the American Soybean Association in St.
Louis, Missouri. [Note: As of 2011, it is in Rare and Special
Collections, at the National Agricultural Library, Beltsville,
Maryland].
“The group arrived in Tokyo on March 18, 1929, and
set up headquarters. In August they traveled to Hokkaido,
the northernmost island of Japan and center of soybean
production, where they studied both soybean cultivation and
food uses. In December 1929 they returned to Tokyo and
spent full time until March 1930 collecting soyfoods and
studying their production and use. On April 1, 1930, they
arrived in Dairen, Manchuria, to study soybean cultivation
and oil extraction. Dorsett left Morse in the summer of
1930 and went to Peking. He did not rejoin Morse on the
trip, although he wrote regularly. Morse went to Korea on
August 22, to Mukden in Manchuria on September 29,
back to Dairen, the oil-processing capital of East Asia, and
then to Peking on October 20; Morse apparently spent only
20 days in China on the entire trip. In late December they
took a ship from Dairen back to Kyoto and then Tokyo. On
February 17, after several more months of soyfoods research
in Tokyo, they sailed for America, arriving in San Francisco
on March 4, 1931. Morse’s collection efforts–months of
tramping through the fi elds of East Asia–were a bonanza.
He discovered that almost every village in the Orient had
its own distinctive soybean varieties, developed during
thousands of years of close cultivation and inbreeding.
Unlike their Western counterparts, Chinese farmers didn’t
think of looking for improved varieties in nearby villages
and then growing these in their own village. They loyally
grew the varieties that had been handed down by their
honorable ancestors, and wouldn’t dream of growing a
variety handed down by someone else’s ancestors. Morse’s
major accomplishments on the expedition were: (1) he
collected approximately 4,600 distinct soybean seed samples