READ LANCASTER FARMING
FOR FULL MARKET REPORTS
Crown vetch -
Pennsylvania's
Cinderella Plant
Anyone traveling in Penn
sylvania this time of year will
surely notice masses of dark
green vegetation topped with
swarms of lavendar flowers that
line many of the state’s major
highways.
This plant, known as Penngift
Crownvetch, is almost a
trademark of Pennsylvania high
ways. Considered a miracle plant
by landscape experts, it has
brought hundreds of com
plimentary letters from out of
state visitors, most wanting to
know what the “stuff” is and how
to grow it.
Crownvetch, a cousin to the pea
and the clover, is almost the
perfect plant for the hills and
slopes along highways. It thrives
in the poorest of soils and it
survives both drought and flood
WE HAVE
ALL MODELS OF
1973 Trucks
Largest Selection ever
To Choose From
PETTICOFFER
DODGE
1579 So. Market St.
Elizabethtown, Pa.
Route 2.50
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 28,1973
with ease,
Its dense vegetation and strong
root system stops erosion on the
steepest slopes. It never needs
fertilizing once it is established
and requires no mowing or
cutting of any sort. It smothers
weeds, but doesn’t become a
nuisance because it is very easy
to control.
It is easy and inexpensive to
plant, and once established after
about two years the plant vir
tually takes care of itself.
Crownvetch is a dense dark
green mass of foilage about two
feet high during its growing
season which lasts from May to
November. In midsummer, the
plants are literally covered with
small fragrant pink, white and
lavendar flowers. From
December to March the plant is
dormant and takes on the color of
the surrounding landscape.
This amazing plant, known to
scientists as Cornillia varia, is a
native of Europe. But it wasn’t
until years after it found its way
to Pennsylvania as an adulterant
in alfalfa seed that its potential
became known.
Dr. Fred Grau, a professor at
Penn State University, was
traveling near Virginville, Berks
County, in June of 1935 when he
noticed a purple flowered plant
clinging to a shale hillside where
nothing else would grow.
At first, no one knew what the
plant was, not even the scientist
at Penn State. Robert Gift, on
whose farm it grew, only knew it
as “that weed.” Later, botanical
clues identified it as a member of
the legume family which includes
peas and clover.
Dr. Grau took seeds and cut
tings and started growing
crownvetch on two small farms
near State College. The plant was
named Penngift for the state and
farm on which it was found. All
our crownvetch is descended
from that which Dr. Grau first
found.
By 1948 crownvetch cultivation
and production was sufficiently
advanced that a trial planting
was made on a highway cut near
Port Matilda, Centre County. The
experiment was so successful
that others were made and by
1955, crownvetch became a
standard plant for erosion control
along Pennsylvania highways,
replacing honeysuckle and other
hard to control vines.
Currently there are over 30,000
acres of crownvetch planted
along Pennsylvania highways
and the plant is also coming into
use in other states. It has also
been used to cover earthen dams,
levees and strip mines. It can be
used for forage, but the cattle
must acquire a taste for it. And
some crownvetch enthusiasts say
the blossoms make a good
dessert wine.
Ihe Old ivrrm.
□ □ □ nj
“The little pitcher that
has big ears is apt to have a
big spout, too!”
19