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

exporter from this port, to ship about 200,000 tons of beans
via Vladivostok during 1909 and about double that quantity
via Dalny. Many large contracts have been made for next
season, and from present indications a strong effort will be
made against the control of Mitsui Bussan Kaisha as the
Chinese are making arrangements to deal direct with the
European market without the aid of the Japanese” (p. 18).
Tables show: The quantities and value of soya beans,
soya-bean cake, and bean oil imported into Japan during
the year 1908 (p. 15). The soya bean harvests (in bushels)
reported in various Japanese districts (p. 16).
II. Markets. Denmark: Experimental imports made,
views of an importer. France: High duties prevent
importation of soya beans, soya-bean fl our bread used by
diabetics, unknown in Calais district. Germany: Danger
of feeding cattle on soya-bean products, oil value–prices
at Hamburg, comparative food value of the bean. Italy:
Beans imported and cultivated in limited quantities, prices
of soya products–American cotton-seed oil, not imported
into Catania, home products supply Piedmont district.
Netherlands: A great future for the soya-bean trade predicted,
prices of the bean and bean cake, soya cake as cattle feed,
manufacture of soya-bean products begun, English soyabean
cake defective. Norway: Imports of soya-bean meal and
cotton-seed meal. Russia: Beans and products unsatisfactory
as feeding stuffs. Spain: Soya bean unknown in Valencia
district [They are neither cultivated nor imported in this
district]. Straits Settlements [Singapore and Malaya].
Sweden: Soya-bean products introduced through England.
Comparative value of cattle feed [work by Nils Hansson
of Sweden], comparative prices of feed stuffs. Turkey.
England: Liverpool (Conversion of the soya bean into cake
and meal), Plymouth (Soya cake and meal extensively
consumed), Southampton (The bean appreciated as a fattener
and as a dairy ration, the soya bean as human food [for
use in diabetic diets]). Ireland: Chinese bean products are
favorably received, soya bean introduced in Belfast, small
imports at Cork. Scotland: Statistics as to use in Dunfermline
not available, test of feeding value of soya cake [by Prof.
Douglas A. Gilchrist], Edinburgh mills making experiments
(based on 1909 report 1909 of U.S. Consul Rufus Fleming
from Edinburgh).
III. Competitive American exports. Tables (p. 35)
show exports for 1907, 1908, and 1909 of cotton-seed
meal, cotton-seed oil, and cottolene, lardine [not defi ned:
presumably shortening made from cottonseed oil], etc. to
major countries, especially in Europe.
The Introduction notes: “In compliance with requests
from manufacturers of cotton-seed products in the United
States, who desired that an investigation be made of the
production and use of the soya bean and its manufacturers
in the Far East and of the extent to which they compete with
American cotton-seed products in the European markets, the
reports following have been submitted by consular offi cers in
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 58
the various countries concerned...
“The reports of the consular offi cers have been placed
in two groups, the fi rst having to do with the countries that
produce the soya bean and the second with the countries
that are sought as markets. Statistics as to the imports of
soya-bean products in many European countries were
not available at the time the reports were submitted, but
inasmuch as the prices quoted were generally lower than for
other seed products, emphasis has been laid on the relative
merits of the two classes of goods as shown by experiments
and analyses in these countries. These manufacturers will
have to work in meeting this new competition.”
Note 1. This is the earliest document seen (Dec. 2007)
concerning soybean products (oil or meal) in Turkey,
Denmark, Ireland, the Middle East, or Sweden (one of two
documents); soybeans as such have not yet been reported in
any of these countries. This document contains the earliest
date seen for soybean products in the Middle East or Turkey
(1909).
Note 2. This is the earliest English-language document
seen (Oct. 2001) that uses the term “soya-bean fl our.”
Address: Chief of Dep.
83. Carson, John M. 1909. Soya bean and products: Japan
(Document part). Special Consular Report (U.S. Bureau of
Manufactures, Department of Commerce and Labor) No. 41.
Part 5. p. 13-16. Erroneously numbered Special Consular
Reports, Vol. XL.
• Summary: Vice-Consul-General E.G. Babbitt of Yokohama
writes: “The soya bean, or soja bean, as it is known here
(Common Japanese name ‘daidzu’ [daizu]), is cultivated
throughout the Empire of Japan. The total area of cultivation
is in the neighborhood of 1,200,000 acres, or about 3.8 per
cent of the total area devoted to the cultivation of rice and
other cereals and grains. The soya bean is often cultivated,
not in fi elds by itself, but in rows along the edges of rice or
wheat fi elds. These edges are, as a rule, very soft, for they
have been previously plowed, and little labor is required in
planting... In harvesting the plants are uprooted, and, after
being dried in the sun for several days, fl ails are used to
separate the beans from the pods. The fl ails are of a very
primitive type, with bamboo handle and of light weight.
Female and child labor is invariably employed in fl ailing.
“The kinds of fertilizers used differ by districts. In
the prefecture of Miyagi, for example, straw ashes and
superphosphate of lime are commonly employed, while in
the prefecture of Akita wood ashes, superphosphate of lime,
and horse dung are used.”
The average yield of soybeans in Japan over the past
10 years is 15.30 bushels per acre. For the year 1907 the
highest yield is from Ishikawa prefecture, 21.62 bushels/
acre, whereas the lowest yield is from Okinawa prefecture
(Loochoo Islands, south of Kiushu [Kyushu]), 8.48 bushels/
acre. During 1908 huge amounts of soya beans (3.3 million