KUDZU: The Vine That Ate The South
By Leslie Helm, Real Estate For Trail Riders
(Tennessee Recreational Properties)
I was driving through Atlanta a few years ago and I saw a billboard that read, "The Only Thing That Has Better Coverage Than Georgia Electric is Kudzu!" It made me laugh because anyone who has spent any time in the south knows about Kudzu. It will cover anything, very quickly. Some of its nicknames are "Foot-A-Night-Vine" and "Mile-A-Minute-Vine." Kudzu was first seen in the United States at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was promoted as a forage crop for cattle. Visitors to the exhibition were taken by Kudzu's large leaves and highly-fragrant purple blooms, embracing the plant for ornamental purposes. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted it widely and, from 1935 to the early '50s, the Soil Conservation Service encouraged farmers to plant Kudzu to reduce...
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