Vetch
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Vetch. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FETCH, FITCH, or TARE, terms variously used to indicate the fod- Cyc 14 der plant, Vicia sativa and the genus Vicia. This genus, belonging to the Papilionaceæ, sub-order of Leguminosæ, consists of about 100 species of climbing or diffuse herbs, distributed through temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and South America. The common bean is frequently classed under Vicia as V. Faba. The next most important species is the vetch, or tare of agriculturists-the V. sativa above mentioned. It is one of the best fodder plants, but is only of one or two years' duration; it is important also for green manure, and as a companion crop with clovers. The practice of sowing it along with oats or barley is strongly recommended, insuring a greater bulk of produce, and preventing the crop from massing and rotting in wet weather. V. Cracca, or the tufted vetch, V. peregrina, V. sepium, V. sylvatica, and various species of the same group as V. sativa, are all relished by cattle, and some of them are cultivated in southern Europe. Twelve species of Vicia (including therein Ervum) are natives of Great Britain.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
vech, a name given to several species of leguminous herbs. The vetches are closely allied to the peas. The common field vetch is raised for a green fodder crop. It is a native of Europe. The broad Windsor bean is also a genuine vetch. A delicate climbing vetch with bluish flowers may be found in the moist soil of prairie and copse edges. It is one of the flowers of early summer, beginning to bloom in June in the Northern States. See Lentil ; Pea
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The botany has held up: Collier's put the broad bean in the same genus as V. faba, and Aiton's insistence in 1910 that "the broad Windsor bean is also a genuine vetch" is still correct, though modern floras count nearer 140 species of Vicia than the roughly 100 Collier's allowed. What has shifted is the farming. Collier's called V. sativa "one of the best fodder plants" and praised sowing it with oats or barley; after industrial nitrogen fertiliser and the tractor displaced both horse fodder and the need for legume-fixed nitrogen, vetch acreage shrank sharply, and it survives mainly as a green-manure and cover crop — with hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), unnamed in either account, now the favourite for that job in North America. Agronomists also now warn that common vetch seed carries toxic amino acids that can poison poultry and livestock if fed heavily, a caution absent from these confident recommendations.
Written for this edition, 2026.