The vegetable soybean is a new crop in American agriculture. Most of the types of soybeans introduced into the United States from the Orient until recently, were of value primarily for the feeding of livestock and the production of oil. About 10 years ago, while on a plant exploration trip in eastern Asia, W. J. Morse, of the United States Department of Agriculture, made an extensive collection of soybean varietes. Among these were a considerable number of the vegetable type, grown for many years as a vegetable crop in Japan and Chosen, but new to the American farmer. During the past few years these varieties have been subjected to experimental trials and to limited commercial production. As a result of such trials, the vegetable soybean has been found distinctly superior to the field soybean for human consumption. The high nutritive value of soybeans makes them especially beneficial in the human diet.

Many of these vegetable soybean varieties have been tested at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station. By means of field experiments, varieties desirable from a production standpoint were selected. In the Experimental Cookery Laboratory of the Foods and Nutrition Subsection these varieties were rated as to their desirability as a food when used in the green-bean stage.