UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.
Crown vetch, the pink-flowered
perennial planted along high
ways to control erosion, is an ef
fective living mulch for
cropland, said an agronomist in
Penn State’s College of Agricul
tural Sciences.
Those interested in seeing re
search and demonstration plots
of crown vetch are invited to a
living mulch tour from noon to
3:30 p.m. on July 14 at Penn
State’s Agronomy Research
Farm. The farm is at Research
Gate B of the Russell E. Larson
Agricultural Research Center,
Rocksprings, nine miles south
west of State College on Rt. 45.
Lunch will be provided at no
cost.
“Crown vetch can be used as
an alternative to terraces, con
tour strips and dead residue
mulch,” said Nate Hartwig, pro
fessor emeritus of weed science.
“When managed correctly,
crown vetch forms a vegetative
PUT A BAT IN YOUR BARN
BATWING 3180 • 3 SPINDLE MOWER
REARMOUNT FINISH MOWERS
R.S. HOLLINGER &
SON, INC.
Mountville, PA
717-285-4538
MESSICK’S
Elizabethtown, Pa
717-367-1319
MARSHALL
Abbottstown, PA MACHINERY, INC
717-259-6617
REIFF FARM SERVICE
Shippensburg, PA
717-532-8601
cover, virtually eliminating
runoff of rainwater, topsoil, nu
trients and pesticides,” said
Hartwig. “It also allows farmers
to plant agronomic crops, rather
than planting sod crops to
reduce soil erosion.”
Hartwig has been studying
the use of crown vetch as a living
mulch for corn, small grains,
and soybeans since 1973. His re
search compares test plots with
no soil cover, plots with surface
crop residue, and plots with
crown vetch.
“Tilled plots with no soil
cover on a 14 percent slope can
lose about 12 to 14 tons of top
soil per acre per year,” said
Hartwig. “Plots with cornstalk
residue lose an average of one
quarter to one-half of a ton of
topsoil per year. That’s about a
95 percent reduction in soil loss.
“Plots with crown vetch show
the most dramatic reduction,
losing only about 50 pounds of
topsoil per acre per year. That’s
WOODS
... come in for a demonstration
D.W. OGG
EQUIPMENT CO.
Frederick, MD
301-473-4250
Westminster, MD
410-848-4585
HOOBER, INC.. WERTZ FARM &
McAhsterville, PA POWER EQUIPMENT
717-463-2191 Glen Rock PA
T r ni TT „ Lancaster farming, Saturday, July 8, 2000-C3
four Shows How Crown Vetch ' “
Controls Erosion On Farmland
mows more grass,
reduces downtime,
available right now.
n radius capability. Greater riding comfort.
xsier operating controls.
te’ve even designed an expanded fuel tank to
:eep you going longer. What more could we
tossibly add? Come in and test drive one
lay!
The Woods model 3180 is the toughest Batwing® mower
we’ve ever built A “clean deck” design that resists cut
material build-up, innovative Intra-Drive™ gearboxes
engineered and built by Woods, and the fastest blade
speeds of any mower in its class The 3180 Batwing® cuts
through brush, up to three inches in diameter A blade
overlap of over six inches, and you have a mower that
delivers a quality cut, without streaking From its heavy
gauge deckplate to its heavy-duty drivelines, we build the
3180 to last What’s more, they come complete with a 36-
month gearbox warranty
WOODS
The RD7200 Rear Discharge Finish Mower
is the newest addition to the Woods line of
3 point hitch finish mowers.
• V-Belt Drive with 3 blades
• Industrial Quality Blade Spindles with Tapered
Roller Bearings
• Floating 3 point hitch
• Stagger Mounted Caster Wheels
• Available for 20 to 40 HP, 540 RPM Category
Tractors
• 72 Inch Cutting Width
Honesdale, PA
570-729-7117
about a 99 percent reduction. At
the same time, the plant’s roots
penetrate deep into the soil, im
proving tilth and water infiltra
tion.”
At $lO a pound, crown vetch
costs about $lO per acre to estab
lish. “But once in place, it
should last forever,” said
Hartwig. “It’s almost impossible
to kill it accidentally with herbi
cides. At the same time, the
plant is easy to suppress so that
it doesn’t compete with crops. In
the long run, it can be' less ex
pensive than other conservation
measures.”
Crown vetch is compatible
with all crop rotations, including
corn, soybeans, small grains, al
falfa, and alfalfa/grass mixtures.
It doesn’t decrease crop produc
tion, and it requires no special
tools or chemicals to manage it.
“In addition, it has nutritional
value equal to alfalfa, so it can
be used as a forage,” said
Hartwig.
WOODS
WOODS
PIPERSVILLE
GARDEN CENTER
Pipersville, PA
215-766-0414
ECKROTH BROS.
FARM EQUIPMENT
New Ringgold, PA
570-943-2131
Orefield, PA
610-366-2095
Crown vetch normally takes
two to three years to become
well established. “Once estab
lished, it fixes nitrogen, a por
tion of which becomes available
to crops such as corn,” said
Hartwig. “Our research shows
that yields of 100 bushels of corn
per acre are possible in fields
with a crown vetch cover with
out any added nitrogen.”
For more information about
using crown vetch as a living
mulch, contact your county
Penn State Cooperative Exten
THE HARDEST JOB!
John Berry
Ag Marketing Agent
Lehigh County
Good managers create, not
consume, workplace energy.
Remember the four “classic”
functions of management
plan, organize, lead, and control
that you learned in school?
Although these basic functions
are fine for taking care of most
of your day-to-day management
duties, they fail to reflect the
new reality of the workplace and
the new partnership of mana
gers and workers.
Today’s managers need a new
set of management functions
based on forging a strong em
ployee/employer relationship:
• Energize. Today’s managers
need to be masters of making
things happen. You can be the
best analyst in the world or the
most highly organized executive
on the planet, but if the level of
excitement you generate can be
likened more to a dish rag than
to a spark plug, then you may
never have what it takes to
create a truly great environ
ment. Great managers create far
more energy than they consume.
Instead of taking energy from
the organization, the best mana
gers channel and amplify energy
to the organization.
• Empower. Great managers
allow their employees to do
great work they empower
them to excel. This is a vital
function of management be
sion office, district conservation
ist, or Nate Hartwig.
Information on how the system
works can be found in the 1999-
2000 Agronomy Guide, avail
able on the World Wide Web at
http://AgGuide.agronomy.psu.
edu/.
Paper copies of the guide are
available at county extension of
fices or from the College of Agri
cultural Sciences Publications
Distribution Center, 814-865-
6713.
cause even the greatest mana
gers in the world cannot succeed
all by themselves. To achieve the
goals of the organization, mana
gers depend on the skills that
their employees offer. Effective
management is the leveraging of
the efforts of every member of a
work group toward a common
purpose. If you are constantly
doing your employees’ work for
them, not only have you the ad
vantage of leverage that your
employees can provide, but you
arc also putting yourself on the
path to stress.
• Support. The key to creating
a supportive environment is es
tablishing openness throughout
an organization. In an open en
vironment, employees can bring
up questions and concerns in
fact, they are encouraged to do
so. When employees see their
managers are open to new ideas,
they are more likely to offer
suggestions and new ideas.
• Communicate. Information
is power, and as the speed of
business continues to accelerate,
information must be communi
cated to employees faster than
ever before. Constant change
and increasing turbulence in the
business environment necessi
tate more communication, not
less.
Management is not what you
do to people, it’s what you do for
them. Managers who truly
manage their employees who
energize them, empower them,
support them, and communicate
with them will attract and
retain key employees because
they build trust and commit
ment.
A LESSON
WELL
LEARNED...
Lancaster Farming's
CLASSIFIED ADS
GET RESULTS!
Phone: 717-394-3047
or 717-626-1164