Buried under Cudzu. U.S. Hwy. 19, Lumpkin County, Georgia.
Visitors from the northern states who happen to travel the back roads (i.e. non-interstates) of the South are frequently surprised to see some kind of green vine that grows along the roadside, clogs the ditches, hangs from trees, covers small buildings and abandoned houses near the road, and sometimes, covers whole fields. It's cudzu, the invasive weed that ate the South.
It wasn't intended to be a weed, of course. With the best of intentions, cudzu (also spelled kudzu) was imported from Japan in the late 19th century for erosion control and as a cattle feed. My Dad, always a visionary, planted some on our farm in southern Indiana for both purposes around 1950. It was a bit of a gamble, because cudzu wasn't supposed to thrive in colder climes. But over the years, some we planted in a "wash" (eroded area) took hold slowly and grew, eventually covering that end of the field and traveling across the road to invade a neighbor's field. Years later, two of my brothers, who bought the farm from our Dad, leased some acreage to a farmer who finally managed to root out the pesty vine.
Ours was the only cudzu I ever knew of to grow north of the Ohio river. In the South, as any traveler knows, the evil weed still covers large areas.
As for cattle feed? Our cattle never got hungry enough to eat the stuff.
Photo: Canon EOS 5D Classic, Canon 24-85mm USM lens.
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The first time I saw kudzu was in basic training at Ft. Benning, GA. All of us from the midwest and the north were wondering aloud what the vine was that was covering everything and choking out full grown trees. After listening to us for a few minutes, one of the local guys said, "Gentlemen, that is KUDZU, the controlling intelligence of the South!"
ReplyDeleteToo true, Bob. We'll never be able to defeat the stuff. The best we can do is a (barely) holding action. Thanks for commenting.
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