Utility Bills Getting You Down? Plant Stuff On The Roof UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Gardeners are always looking for new planting sites, but a research team in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences is aiming higher by de veloping a system that would re place the tar-and-gravel materi als used on flat roofs with a surface covered by living plants a green roof. “Europeans have been culti vating vegetation on rooftops for decades,” says David Beattie, as sociate professor of ornamental horticulture. “The roofs of large buildings flat roofs in particu lar are subjected to large swings in temperatures that cause cracking and eventually leakage into the floors below.” Beattie and Robert Berghage, associate professor of ornamental horticulture, are working with JSP International Inc., a Mal vern manufacturer of plastics used in automotive bumpers, to create a plastic-based roofing The STREAM MAP OF PENN SYLVANIA was completed in 1965 after a thirty-year effort by Howard Higbee, a former Penn State Professor. The map is also known as the LOST STREAM MAP to some anglers. Professor Higbee succeeded in creating a map of the highest detail possible...a map that shows every stream and lake. He painstakingly plotted by hand, the location of 45,000 miles of streams onto a 3 x 5 foot map. The map sold extremely well - until n was lost several years later. Incredibly, the printer entrusted with the original drawing and printing plates declared bank ruptcy, then carelessly hauled Higbee's 30 years of work to a landfill. The few remaining dog-eared copies became a prized fisher man's possession. Professor Higbee was offered $4OO for one of his last maps. And state agencies were forced to keep their copies under lock and key. Experts told Professor Higbee that reprints were impossible, because the maps were printed in non-photographic blue. Then, in 1991, at the age of 91, Howard Higbee's dream came true. Computers made it possible to reprint the map. Holding an updated map, Howard said, "I never thought I'd live to see this day." system that can be used as a planting site for vegetation. The company uses PEPP, po rous expanded polypropylene, which is a compressed plastic mat that can be used as a growth matrix or surface insulator for the vegetation layer. For the past six months. Beat tie and Berghage have tested prototypes planted with sedum, a drought-tolerant succulent plant variety that is related to cactus, and hard fescue, a grass. “We think sedum will be effective be cause some varieties stay short, don’t shed a lot of dead plant material as winter sets in, and are easy to propagate,” Berghage says. “The temperatures and winds on top of a building can be brutal, so the best plant material to use should be low-lying and need minimal maintenance.” In a series of tests this sum mer, the researchers measured temperatures on a gravel roof, on a plastic-sheet roof and on a I that 10% of all th«‘ fishermen cateh *)()% of the fish. Regardless of w hieh "roup you fall into... there's a sure \\a\ to up your odds... simplx try new fishing waters. I’ish where few fishermen ever fish. Pennsylvania is loaded with great fishing waters...many of (hem overlooked. From the Lake 1 l>ie tributaries to the Delaware Riven..thousands of miles of streams, lakes and rivers are now easv to- locate on one map. Professor I ligliee's Stream Map of Pennsylvania is the first ami only highly detailed map of its kind. This 3-foot-hy-5-foo( color map shows /jQf virtually all of the 45.(MM) miles of Pennsylvania @ streams phis lakes. RAVE REVIEWS "It is amazingly detailed and names some creeks in the Mohawk Valley that can't even be found on topographic maps " John Pitarres OBSERVER-DISPATCH-Utica “If you're looking for the most definitive maps ever created depicting every single creek, river, stream, pond and lake then "Professor Higbee's Stream Maps" are without question the finest Howard Brant THE NEWARK STAR-LEDGER "It is in showing where to find out-of-the-way trout streams that makes the map such a treasure to the fisherman Joe Gorden TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT Johnstown planted roof prototype. The tem peratures on a sunny day with ambient temperatures around 88 degrees Fahrenheit measured 140 degrees F on the plastic sheeting, 118 degrees F on the gravel roof, and 82 degrees F on the planted roof prototype. Beattie sees several advantages to installing a green roof. —Aesthetics; “A green expanse of lush vegetation looks great,” Beattie says. “Even in winter, brown plants and soils will look a lot better than a grimy gravel roof.” —Durability: Using a vegetat ed roof eliminates the large tem perature extremes and fluctua tions that cause cracking and failure in flat roofs. “Europeans estimate that roof life can be doubled by using green roofs,” Berghage says. —Energy Savings: The insula tion provided by an expanse of plants across a roof can reduce the energy load required to heat Great Gift! Stream® MAP of Pennsylvania very fisherman needs this map with this valuable guide Easily locate over 900 productive trout streams and 300 lakes Bass waters, class " A " limestone streams, and trophyJishwaters are easy to locate on the map !' ORDER YOUR COLOR STREAM MAPS " 1 Available rolled or foided ALSO AVAILABLE in heavy gauge LIFE- I TIME GUARANTEED, glass-like dear-lamination, wnte-on wipe-oil I surface, with brass eyelettes for easy hanging I Send me 3FTby 5 FT ROLLED map(s) postage paid al $23 75 ea I Send me 3FTby 5 FT FOLDED map(s) postage paid al $23 76 ea I Send me 3 C T by SFT LAMINATED map(s) postage paid al $43 75 ea I Check or money order enclosed $ TSHIPPED PRIORITY MAIL I I IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS I Name I Address I City Stale Zip LANCASTER FARMING Dept. Map 1 East Main St., P.O. Box 609, Ephrata, PA 17522 I Payable □ Check Enclosed D Visa D Mastercard ~J Discover Card #- 1 Exp Date Signature Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 4, 2000-815 or cool the building. ‘Vegetation is a natural tem perature moderator,” Beattie says. “That’s why it feels cooler in the middle of your lawn than it does in the middle of your driveway.” According to Berghage, green roofs also can alleviate the tem perature rise associated with large metropolitan areas. “In big cities such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, where asphalt, concrete and building materials absorb and radiate heat, the tem perature can be 10 to 15 degrees higher than nearby suburban areas,” he says. “The loss of green space in cities can be re duced by using green roofs.” Beattie says green roofs re quire more structural support than a conventional flat roof, but enough support for a vegetative roofing system can easily be built into new construction projects or an extensive re-roofing project. “You have to provide an irriga- Museum Hours Change • Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. • Closed Nov. 25 and 26 and Dec. 24. • Ski trails will open for the season, weather permitting, Saturday, Dec. 16. Beginning Jan. 1. 2001, hours at the Nature Center are: Special programming will be presented Dec. 1-3, 8-10 and 15-17 for Yuletide in the Country: Tours Through Holidays Past (reservations re quired). Genesee Country Village and Museum is the largest living history museum in New York State and the largest collection of buildings in the East. The museum is open from mid-May through mid-October. Villagers in period dress interpret 1800 s Genesee Country life for visitors. The museum also includes the John L. Wehle Gallery of Wildlife and Sporting Art and Genesee Country Nature Center, with five miles of hiking trails through woodlands, wetlands and meadows. The museum is located in Mum ford, New York, 20 miles southwest of Roches ter and 45 miles east of Buffalo. Visit the muse um on the web at www.gcv.org. tion and drainage system, which requires additional support,” Beattie explains. “Also rain and snow would add weight to the soil.” This winter, Beattie and Berg hage will test different plant ma terials and explore how Pennsyl vania’s winter conditions affect green roofs. In addition, they will track how, and if, heat is re tained within a building outfitted with a green roof. Eventually, the research team hopes to get per mission to install a green roof system on an existing Penn State building. ‘Using these systems doesn’t mean you won’t have to pull a few weeds or irrigate occasional ly, but that can be handled on a contract basis with the mainte nance organization doing the building landscaping,” Beattie says. “This isn’t zero mainte nance, but it is minimum mainte- nance.” Gennessee County MUMFORD, N.Y. Genesee Country Vil lage and Museum’s Historic Village and John L. Wehle Gallery of Wildlife and Sporting Art will be open only for special programs until they re open May 12 for the 2001 season. The Genesee Country Nature Center will remain open on a limited schedule for the remainder of the year. Genesee Country Nature Center is open in November and December as follows: • Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. • Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m Freight, Farming, Family (Continued from Page B 14) on the racetrack scene. The owners of Jiffy peanut butter, Mr. Coffee, a Lear jet producer, and the developer of Barney have used Brook Ledge hauling for their horses. In addition to spending approximately 90 days a year on the road with the trucks, Bill, 68, also helps take care of the farm’s resident dairy with the help of a farm manager and her two daughters. The morning milking starts at 4:45, when more than 100 cows are milked. In addition Bill takes care of the 400 tillable acres of the farm, which yield com, wheat, alfalfa, and the straw used to bed the trailers. The remaining 100 acres serves as pasture for the dairy. “I’ve been involved on a dairy farm since I was 13, off and on,” said Bill. He started dairy farming immediately after high school and bought the home farm in 1957. otm k
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers