1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I grew 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: up in the North Carolina Piedmont, and it was very 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: common when I was a kid driving around to see 6 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: these huge fields of kut zoos climbing all over everything 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: from fields to trees, to telephone polls to like abandoned 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: tobacco barns. And people talked about this plant almost like 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: it was a monster. Like it was. People called it 10 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: the vine that ate the South and described it as 11 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:49,480 Speaker 1: being almost unkillable and also teeming with stinging, biting insects 12 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 1: and maybe venomous snakes and maybe even like murderers hiding 13 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: in there. It just sounded like the worst plant in 14 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: the world. Um. I also got the basic story worry 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: that they had introduced this plant to the United States 16 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: to stop erosion and it got completely out of control. 17 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: So the other day there was a random headline that 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: just took me down a train of thought to kut 19 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: zoo and I started wondering how much of that basic 20 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: story I heard as a kid it was really true, 21 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: And also who was they in this story, they introduced 22 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: kat Zoo, who specifically was that. Uh and that's how 23 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: we got this episode. Uh. So, for a little level 24 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: setting and what kut Zoo is. Kutzo is a semi woody, 25 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: perennial climbing vine. It's actually in the pea family. There 26 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,759 Speaker 1: are at least fifteen different species in the genus pew Area, 27 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: and the one that's prevalent in the United States is 28 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: pew Area montana variety lobata, or just pew Area lobada. 29 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: Kutzo has hairy vines and trifoliate leaves, meaning that each 30 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: leaf is made up of three leaflets. So a glance, 31 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: young kudzu vines can resemble poison ivy. Boy have I 32 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: made that mistake before? Um? But poison ivy is glossier 33 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: and those hairs are roots that it uses to anchor 34 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,239 Speaker 1: itself and climb surfaces, and cut Zoo, on the other hand, 35 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: climbs by twining around itself or around other objects. Cut 36 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: Zoo is also a flowering plant. It produces flowers for 37 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: the first time when it's about three years old, and 38 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: those flowers smell like grape candy. They're typically purple, but 39 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: they can also come in shades that are more red 40 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: or more pink, and these flowers form seed pods, but 41 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: most of the time only a couple of seeds in 42 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: each pod are viable. They can also take a really 43 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,519 Speaker 1: long time to germinate, like years, so while it's possible 44 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: for people to collect and intentionally propagate these seeds, most 45 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: of kudzou spread comes from the plant sending out runners. 46 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: These runners form nodes roughly a foot apart, with a 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: new route forming it each node. This is a deciduous plants, 48 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: so it drops its leaves after the first hard frost 49 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: and it leaves this mat of brown vines behind. I 50 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: can't speak for anybody else, but when I was a child, 51 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: I thought kad zoo was actually pretty like relatively an 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: attractive plant in the green months. The rest of the 53 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: time not so much. That vine grows back in the spring, though, 54 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: and it thrives in places that have an average rainfall 55 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: of about forty or a hundred and one centimeters or more, 56 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: also with a long growing season and mild winters, and 57 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: that means that kud zoo is especially suited to places 58 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: that have a humid subtropical climate like the southeastern United States, 59 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: where it is a notoriously invasive plant, and parts of 60 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: Eastern and Southeastern Asia and nearby Pacific Islands, which are 61 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:54,119 Speaker 1: its native region. Particularly in the United States, kad Zoo 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: has become most associated with Japan. In Japanese, it's known 63 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: as kuzoo, and sometimes it's also called Japanese arrowroot. It's 64 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: part of a group of traditionally admired plants known as 65 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: the Seven Herbs of Autumn. The first written reference to 66 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: kudzou in Japanese is a poem that dates back to 67 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: the year six hundred. The dictionary known as the wem 68 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: Yo Show, which was compiled during the Hayon period, describes 69 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: kudzoo leaves being eaten as a wild vegetable. Kudzoo has 70 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: been widely used all over its native region for all 71 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: kinds of purposes for millennia. Kazoo start acts as a thickener, 72 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: similar to phile, which is made from sassafras. Kudzoo starch 73 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: and kadzoo flower are also used to make other foods 74 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: like noodles and mochi, and to coat foods before frying them. 75 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: The leaves, the flowers, and the roots are all edible, 76 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 1: and bees can make kudzoo honey from the flowers. Kudzu 77 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: roots can be just enormous, and they've also been an 78 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: important food source during times of famine in Asia, in China, Japan, 79 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: in Korea, katzoo has also been used to make textiles, 80 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: separating out the plant's fiber and using it to weave cloth. 81 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: The oldest mention of this textile in writings is from 82 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: the work of Chinese philosopher Confucius in the fifth century 83 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 1: b c. Katzoo stems and vines have also been used 84 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 1: to make paper and to weave baskets for hundreds of 85 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: years or more. Various parts of the kadzoo plant are 86 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: also used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine. Kadzoo is an 87 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: ingredient in a t that has been used as a 88 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,039 Speaker 1: treatment for alcohol abuse for more than a thousand years. 89 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: Doctors Wing Bing Chung and Bert L. Valley of Harvard 90 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: University studied this treatment in China, and they isolated an 91 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 1: active ingredient to test its effect on hamsters. Their work 92 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,039 Speaker 1: was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of 93 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: Sciences in the nineteen nineties, and it suggested that this 94 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: substance was effective both at suppressing the appetite for alcohol 95 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: and end for helping to improve the function of alcohol 96 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: damaged organs. Subsequent research into the same basic thing has 97 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: also continued to be pretty promising. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners 98 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: also used kazoo to treat high blood pressure, migraines, circulatory problems, 99 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: and pain. While traditional Chinese medicine is based on the 100 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: idea of balancing and supporting the flow of cheese through 101 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 1: the body, Western medical research has found that kazoo preparations 102 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: can contain high concentrations of flavonoids, which are antioxidants that 103 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: may have a physiological effect on all of those conditions. 104 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: The Japanese text Sai katsu Roku or Account of Processing 105 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: Kadzu Start, was written by Okura Nagatsune and illustrated by 106 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,799 Speaker 1: our Saka Hokuba, who was a student of previous podcast 107 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: subject Katsushika Hokusai. This text was written in about eighteen 108 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: twenty eight, and its description of this plant nods to 109 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,799 Speaker 1: something that later made kadzoo so popular in the United States. 110 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: It describes kud zoo as a quote useful thing in 111 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: useless places, because, in addition to all of these many 112 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: many uses we just discussed, it could grow in very 113 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: poor soil and on steep mountain slopes that couldn't really 114 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: be used for other purposes. Even in its native region, 115 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: kudzoo can grow over and damage other plants and built 116 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,119 Speaker 1: structures if it is left unattended, but at the same time, 117 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: various other factors usually keep it from getting out of control. 118 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: There's competition from other plants that are also native to 119 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: the ecosystem. Various fungi and other pathogens that infect kudzoo 120 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: are endemic in Asia, but they just don't exist in 121 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: many other parts of the world. Researchers have also identified 122 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: dozens of insects species that feed on kudzoo in China 123 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 1: and Japan, eating the roots or leaves or sucking the 124 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: moisture from the stems. One of these is the Japanese 125 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: kudzoo bug, and that is going to come up again later. 126 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: Kad Zoo has been introduced to lots of places outside 127 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,239 Speaker 1: of its native range. It's naturalized in parts of Central Asia, 128 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: Southern Africa, Central America, coastal Australia, and various Pacific and 129 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: Caribbean islands. Being naturalized means that it's able to reproduce 130 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: and sustain itself in these areas where it's been introduced 131 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: without the help of human beings. Invasive plants are a 132 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: subset of naturalized plants. Not only can they reproduce and 133 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: sustain themselves without people's help, but they also have the 134 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: potential to cause economic or ecological damage. Not all naturalized 135 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: plants are invasive, but all invasive plants are naturalized. The 136 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed kaudzoo 137 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: as one of the one hundred worst invasive species in 138 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,199 Speaker 1: the world, but the i u c N also notes 139 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: there's one specific place where it's really a serious pest, 140 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: and that is in the southeastern United States. We will 141 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: get to how becausey was introduced to the southeastern US 142 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:19,359 Speaker 1: after a quick sponsor break. One of the many popular 143 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: but ultimately questionable at best ideas that was floating around 144 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century was acclimatization. When we have talked 145 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: about this on the show before, it's been in the 146 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: context of colonists who were nostalgic for the flora and 147 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: fauna of home and then tried to introduce those species 148 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: into the places that they were then living, and uh, 149 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: this is often really not gone well at all. One 150 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,680 Speaker 1: example from way back in the archive that's been a 151 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: Saturday classic a little more recently is British colonists in 152 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: Australia who missed having rabbits around, so they brought some 153 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: rabbits to Australia and that has been causing for problems 154 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: for more than a hundred and fifty years. But some 155 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: acclimatization proponents in the US looked at things more broadly. 156 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: They advocated bringing all kinds of plants and animals from 157 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: all around the world and introducing them for the sake 158 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: of quote improving what was available in North America after 159 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,959 Speaker 1: the eighteen fifty three Perry Expedition forced Japan to start 160 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: trading with the West. This acclimatization movement included Japanese plants. 161 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: One major proponent of this was horticulturalist Thomas Hogg, who 162 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: served as US consul and Customs Service advisor in Japan 163 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: from eighteen sixty two to eighteen seventy four. Hogg sent 164 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: a lot of Japanese plants and seeds to his brother James, 165 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: who owned a nursery business, as well as to other 166 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: competing nursery owners. He wasn't just trying to help his 167 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: brother's business out. He also really thought it was important 168 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: to send these plants to the United States to get 169 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: them established. Hag was one of the people who introduced 170 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: to Japanese not weed, which is also considered invasive in 171 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: the US, to the United States. Thomas is not known 172 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,439 Speaker 1: to have sent James any kudzoo samples, but the hogs 173 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: are an example of how there was already a lot 174 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: of interest in acquiring and growing Japanese plants in the 175 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: US in the late nineteenth century, part of a general 176 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 1: fascination with and eagerness for anything Japanese. So when kadzoo 177 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: was first showcased at the Japanese Garden Pavilion at the 178 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy six Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, people were ready. At 179 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: this exhibition, kedzoo was shown primarily as an ornamental plant, 180 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: one that would provide fast growing shade along with beautiful, 181 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: fragrant flowers. Kudzoo made another appearance at the World Cotton 182 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: Centennial that was held in New Orleans starting in eighteen 183 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: eighty four. This was another World's Fair and it introduced 184 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: the kudzoo line some more people who were living in 185 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: the hot, humid South soon this plant had been nicknamed 186 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,479 Speaker 1: porch vine, with people planting it around porches and courtyards 187 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: and training it up arbors and trellises to provide additional shade. 188 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,319 Speaker 1: In the southeastern US, these newly planted porch vines could 189 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: grow up to a foot a day during warm, sunny weather, 190 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: or about sixty feet or eighteen meters over the course 191 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: of one growing season. I imagine sitting on your porch 192 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: and just watching it expand slowly. People were intentionally training 193 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: this growth up their portray links and onto trellis is, 194 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: rather than encouraging it to run along the ground, But 195 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: it still didn't take long for people to notice that 196 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: kad zoo could spread aggressively if they didn't keep it 197 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: cut back. One of the people who noticed kad zoo's 198 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: troublesome potential was David Fairchild, who worked for the U. 199 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: S d A. While working as a plant explorer in Japan, 200 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: he had seen kut zoo being used in pastures for 201 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: livestock to graze on, so he tried planting some around 202 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: his home in nineteen o two, not not just trailing 203 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: it up the porch, and he found that it quickly 204 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,839 Speaker 1: became really overgrown and hard to manage. While Fairchild expressed 205 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: his concerns about the plant to the U. S. D A, 206 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't until ninety eight that he published an account 207 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 1: of his experience in his book The World Was My Garden, 208 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: Travels of a Plant Explorer. That experience included spending more 209 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: than two hundred dollars trying to eradicate the kud zoo 210 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: on his property before eventually selling it, at which point 211 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: the new owner pasture a cow on it over an 212 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:43,439 Speaker 1: entire summer. And that's like, that's like two hundred dollars 213 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirties. Maney, Yeah, that is a significantgnificant expense. Uh. 214 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: And he did. Then he was like, I kind of 215 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: gave up. It's like, I'm just gonna sell this cows. 216 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: It's haunted with cut zoo. Meanwhile, in Florida, Charles and 217 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: Lily Please, we're also growing kut zoo. They had originally 218 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: planted it to provide shade, but then Charles had moved 219 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,560 Speaker 1: some of it to another spot on their property. Soon 220 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: he noticed that their farm animals seemed to really like 221 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: to eat it, and also grew really quickly once it 222 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: was established, and the animals seemed to thrive on it. 223 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: So the Pleases established glenn Arden Nursery to sell the 224 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: seemingly miraculous forage plant. In Charles also wrote a pamphlet 225 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: called kud Zoo Coming Forage of the South. The Polices 226 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: started selling kud zoo through mail order, and before long 227 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: they faced an investigation for suspected mail fraud. The US 228 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 1: Postal Service doubted their claims the plant's heartiness and dramatic 229 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: growing speed. The Postal Inspector's doubts apparently disappeared after an 230 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: in person visit to their farm. In n seven, a 231 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: historical marker was erected on Highway nine be in Chipley, Florida. 232 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: I know where that is, commemorating the pleas development of 233 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: kud zoo as a commercial crop. IM one article that 234 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: I read when I was researching this claimed that people 235 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: from Georgia and Alabama will go down there to spit 236 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: on it. I mean, you know, people will do things 237 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: for many reasons. So as food for livestock, kudzoo really 238 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: was remarkable. When cut and bailed as hey, it could 239 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: be harvested twice or sometimes even three times in a season. 240 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: Animals could also graze directly on it in their pastures, 241 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: and nutritionally it was similar to alfalfa, although because it 242 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: had this woody, viney nous to it that just took 243 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: more work to harvest it and bail it. That additional 244 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: work and people's experiences with their overgrown porch vines made 245 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: a lot of farmers reluctant to try kud zoo as forage. 246 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: Though in many areas people only planted kut zoo in 247 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: places where the soil just would not support any other crop, 248 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: but in some areas there were special incentives. For example, 249 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: in ninety the Central of Georgia Railway gave out free 250 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: kudzoo plants to farmers. The idea was that they would 251 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: farm kutzoo hey, which they would then need to transport 252 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,200 Speaker 1: by rail. Growing kut zoo as forage involved some built 253 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: in checks on the plant's growth. Farmers who grew kut 254 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: zoo to be used as hey, we're cutting it down 255 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: at least twice a season, and those who were planting 256 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: it in their grazing pastures actually had to make sure 257 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: their animals didn't graze on it too aggressively because over 258 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: grazing could kill it. So even as more people were 259 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: planting kutzoo, its reputation was still more mixed. The notorious 260 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: people mostly saw it as a valuable shade plant and 261 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: forage plant, but one that required some extra effort and attention. 262 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 1: By the nineteen teens, agricultural experiment stations on the Southeast 263 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: were also working with kad zoo, documenting how best to 264 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: propagate and care for it, measuring how it grew, and 265 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: studying how it impacted the soil. And through this research, 266 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: several things became clear. One was that katzoo took some 267 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: work to establish, but once a seedling had taken root, 268 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,199 Speaker 1: it was hearty and grew very quickly. Another was that 269 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: it replenished some of the nutrients in the soil, and 270 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: a third was that its root system and vines could 271 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:32,919 Speaker 1: stabilize top soil and reduce or even correct erosion. This 272 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: discovery is what really led to the proliferation of kad 273 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: zoo around the Southeast and the nineteen thirties, and we 274 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: will get to that after a sponsor break. The most 275 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:54,919 Speaker 1: well known ecological disaster to strike the United States in 276 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties was the dust Bowl. The federal government 277 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: had forced into people's off of their land in the 278 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,880 Speaker 1: Great Plains and then granted that land to homesteaders who 279 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: plowed under the native grasses in favor of planting crops 280 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 1: like wheat and corn. These farming methods were not appropriate 281 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: for this land or the climate at all. Irresponsible farming 282 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: practices combined with severe droughts and high winds, leading to huge, 283 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: destructive dust storms that stripped even more of the top 284 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: soil away. What's less well known today is that erosion 285 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,920 Speaker 1: was also an enormous problem in the Southeastern United States. 286 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,159 Speaker 1: The soil had been depleted through monocropping, especially with crops 287 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: like cotton and tobacco. Bowlwevil infestations, droughts, and the Great 288 00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: Depression had all caused huge economic hardships for farmers, many 289 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,479 Speaker 1: of whom abandoned their farms to try to find paying 290 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:56,439 Speaker 1: work elsewhere. Much of the southeastern US is prone to 291 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 1: brief but intense thunderstorms in the spring and summer, which 292 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: washed away the top soil and left gullies behind. In 293 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: both the Dust Bowl States and in the Southeast, these 294 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 1: problems were directly connected to the ongoing legacies of colonialism, slavery, 295 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: and the forced displacement of indigenous peoples. The United States 296 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: Soil Erosion Service was established in nineteen thirty three as 297 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: part of the National Industrial Recovery Act. It was expanded 298 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: into the Soil Conservation Service under the Soil Conservation Act 299 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: of nineteen These services were both part of the New Deal, 300 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: that's the collection of projects, programs, and reforms that were 301 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: championed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the wake of 302 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: the Great Depression. The idea was not only to restore 303 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: the depleted soil and to reduce erosion, but also to 304 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: provide work through the Civilian Conservation Core and the Works 305 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 1: Progress Administration. The Soil Erosion Service and Soil Conservation Service 306 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: tried using various plants to con troll erosion. In the Southeast. 307 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: Kudzoo seem to have a lot of potential. Kudzoo can 308 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,719 Speaker 1: grow in poor soil, and it has a symbiotic relationship 309 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 1: with nitrogen fixing bacteria and could replenish the nitrogen in 310 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,440 Speaker 1: the soil. The plants broad leaves sheltered the soil from 311 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: heavy rain. Research at one Soil Conservation Service experiment station 312 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: found that soil under kudzoo had eight percent less water 313 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: runoff and less soil loss than soil that was under cotton. 314 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: Kut Zoo forms a really thick mat as it grows, 315 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: and those mats could trap sediment and that allowed the 316 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: plant to actually fill in gullies over time. Kudzoo can 317 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: also grow along steep gully walls where other plants really 318 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,880 Speaker 1: could not. And then on top of all of that, 319 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,919 Speaker 1: kudzoo that was being used for erosion control could also 320 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: be harvested for hay or used as grazing land as well. 321 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: Research at agricultural experiment stations also suggest it that covering 322 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: a field and kud zoo and then plowing it under 323 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: after a period of years could restore the soil and 324 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: improve future crop yields. Between nineteen thirty five and nineteen 325 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: forty two, the Soil Conservation Service raised one hundred million 326 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: kud zoo seedlings in nurseries in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, 327 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:26,159 Speaker 1: and Georgia. The US government offered an incentive of up 328 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,840 Speaker 1: to eight dollars an acre to farmers who were planting 329 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: kud zoo to control erosion kudzoo could also prevent erosion 330 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: on highway and railroad cuts and embankments, so highway departments 331 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: and railroad companies were eligible for that incentive as well. 332 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: So the spread of kud zoo was also tied to 333 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: the proliferation of automobiles and the highways that were built 334 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: to accommodate them. The US Department of Agriculture also works 335 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,120 Speaker 1: to assuage farmers fears about this plant. A J. Peters 336 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 1: Principle Agronomous wrote kud zoo a forage crop for the 337 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: South East in nineteen thirty two. This was distributed as U. S. 338 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,360 Speaker 1: D A leaflet nine one, and it included this language 339 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 1: under the headline kut zoo not a pest, which I 340 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: it made me laugh out loud the first time I 341 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: read this headline quote. There is no danger that kad 342 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: zoo will become a pest. True, the growth, if uncontrolled, 343 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: will make a tangle of vines likely to smother bushes 344 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:30,320 Speaker 1: and even small trees. But in fields, heavy grazing or 345 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,879 Speaker 1: cutting at once reduces the stand and weakens the growth. 346 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: Hogs will eat the start roots and destroy a stand. 347 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: The few plants that remain can be readily killed by 348 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: digging them. By the late nineteen thirties, kudzoo had been 349 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: introduced to every state in the southeastern US. In nine R. 350 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: Y Bailey of the Soil Conservation Service wrote up a 351 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: thirty page booklet called Kudzoo for Erosion Control in the 352 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: Southeast with a slight lee revised edition being printed in 353 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,680 Speaker 1: and that pamphlet walks through the need for a heavy 354 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: duty plant to control erosion and mitigate the effects of 355 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 1: quote overproduction of clean tilled cash crops. It included information 356 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: on how to plant and care for kud zoo on 357 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,560 Speaker 1: different types of slopes and in different configurations, as well 358 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,720 Speaker 1: as using it as part of a crop rotation to 359 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,959 Speaker 1: replenish the nutrients in the soil. And this pamphlet once 360 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: again reiterated quote kud zoo is not a pest. There 361 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: is a rather prevalent belief that kud zoo is likely 362 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,720 Speaker 1: to become a serious pest if planted in or near 363 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: cultivated crop land. Experience has shown that this belief is unfounded. 364 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: The habits of growth of kad zoo make its control 365 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: very simple. This plant grows only from buds at the 366 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: crowns and at the nodes of vines. There are no 367 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: buds on the roots below the crowns, nor the vines 368 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: between the nodes. New plants are established only by the 369 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: form of roots at the nodes of vines, which are 370 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: in contact with the ground. The growth made by these 371 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: roots during the first growing season is not sufficient to 372 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: make them difficult to break loose by a plow when 373 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: the land is broken the following spring. This brochure goes 374 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: on to say quote the question frequently arises as to 375 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: the possibility of kud zoo becoming a serious pest where 376 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: it is planted in areas adjoining woodland. The vines sometimes 377 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,160 Speaker 1: cover a few trees along the border, but the damage 378 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,880 Speaker 1: done to an established stand of trees is no more 379 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: serious than the effect of the trees on cultivated land. 380 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: Where a vigorous stand of kud zoo adjoins a plantation 381 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:43,360 Speaker 1: of young trees, serious damage to the trees may result 382 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: unless steps are taken to prevent its spread into the trees. 383 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: Encroachment of kud zoo into woodland, either young or mature, 384 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: can be prevented by making one trip along the border 385 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: between the kud zoo and the trees three or four 386 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,080 Speaker 1: times during each growing season with a drag harrow a 387 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: one horse spring tooth harrow, or with a plow to 388 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 1: drag the runners back from the trees. In some instances, 389 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: farm roads between kad zoo and woodland areas are used 390 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: as effective barriers between the two types of plantings. Before 391 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: World War Two, the United States had been getting most 392 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:23,679 Speaker 1: of its kudzoo seedlings from Japan. As diplomatic relations between 393 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,639 Speaker 1: the two countries started to crumble, the Soil Conservation Service 394 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 1: turned its attention to harvesting seeds and collecting cuttings to 395 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,639 Speaker 1: transplant domestically, rather than importing them from Japan. In the 396 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: nineteen forties, one of the most vocal proponents of kudzoo 397 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: was Channing Cope of Georgia, who called kudzoo a miracle vine. 398 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,399 Speaker 1: He had bought a seven hundred acre farm in n 399 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,399 Speaker 1: seven and arranged it so that different pastures contained different 400 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: forage plants, and he could move his cattle from one 401 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: to the next as the seasons changed. Kudzoo was best 402 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 1: from May to October and also served as insurance against drought. 403 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,640 Speaker 1: Cope called this method quote front porch farming, because once 404 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: everything was planted. If you had binoculars or a telescope 405 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,880 Speaker 1: to check on things, and electronic controls for your gates, 406 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: you could just do it all from your front porch. 407 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: Yeah you didn't. You didn't need to raise food crops 408 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: to sell. Just plan all your fields this way, kind 409 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: of shift the cows from one pasture to the next, 410 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: super easy. In his philosophy, Cope hosted agricultural officials and 411 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: dignitaries at his farm. In nineteen forty three, he founded 412 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: the kud Zoo Club of America and also started a 413 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: daily early morning radio program for farmers that he broadcast 414 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: from his porch. He also had a daily column in 415 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: the Atlantic Constitution from nineteen forty five to nineteen fifty. 416 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: Cops kud Zoo Club had twenty thousand members at its 417 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 1: peak and established a goal of planting eight million acres 418 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 1: of kut zoo. In nine nine, he published a book 419 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:05,199 Speaker 1: called Front Porch Farmer, which sold eighty thousand copies and 420 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: was also used as a textbook. Sometimes. Cope is described 421 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: as the reason why kad zoo became so widespread in 422 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,280 Speaker 1: the South, and while his newspaper column and radio program 423 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: reached a lot of people and estimated three million acres 424 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: of kud zoo had already been planted by Cope was 425 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,000 Speaker 1: definitely one of the most visible and memorable people associated 426 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: with all of this, though. He was interviewed in Time 427 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: and Newsweek, and he was nicknamed the Prophet. When the 428 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:38,919 Speaker 1: Atlanta Constitution printed a kudzoo centennial in ninety six, it 429 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: called him a kudzoo Zealot. Gets the photo caption of him. 430 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: I think by the time Cope started his radio show, 431 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: the U. S d A Was kind of starting to 432 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 1: walk back It's kud Zoo Enthusiasm. Revised version of kut Zoo, 433 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: A Forage Crop for the Southeast that was published in 434 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: three no longer insisted that kudzoo was not a pest. Instead, 435 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,440 Speaker 1: it said, quote kut Zoo is sometimes a nuisance when 436 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: growing in places where not wanted. It is not hard 437 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 1: to kill. However, although it takes a lot of work 438 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: to remove it from places that cannot be mowed and plowed. 439 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: It will not stand continuous close cutting, and can be 440 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: killed by mowing four or five times a year or 441 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:32,400 Speaker 1: by close pasturing throughout the growing season. Where these methods 442 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: cannot be practiced, cutting by hand must be resorted to 443 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: or some chemical weed killer used. And it was becoming 444 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: increasingly clear that the aggressive use of kud zoo in 445 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: the southeastern US had some drawbacks. Sure, it's a farmer 446 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: pastured cows on kudzoo. They would naturally limit its spread 447 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 1: as they grazed, as would regularly cutting kudzoo fields to 448 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: bail into hay. But the vast amounts of kudzoo planted 449 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,080 Speaker 1: along the road and railroad embankments, that's another story altogether. 450 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,880 Speaker 1: There were no grazing livestock or regular mowing going on 451 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: to keep it controlled. Plus, when the government stopped paying 452 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,959 Speaker 1: farmers to plant kut zoo, they mostly quit doing it. Yeah, 453 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: a lot of farmers had other options that they kind 454 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: of preferred. But when it came to like the the 455 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: road embankments and the railroad embankments and all that, like 456 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:25,720 Speaker 1: kud zoo was still in a lot of places the 457 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 1: plant that grew the best on that kind of steep 458 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: slope with indifferent soil left undisturbed. The kud zoo that 459 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: was planted along Southeastern highways and railroads quickly grew into 460 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: adjoining fields and forests. It grew up utility poles, pulling 461 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: them down or causing shorts. It also grew across the 462 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:50,960 Speaker 1: railroad tracks that it was sup post to border, and 463 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: then as trains ran over it, it broke down into 464 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: a slippery goo that could do everything from slowing down 465 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: the trains progress to even causing derailments. And that huge 466 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: root system I mean the roots can be massive, and 467 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,080 Speaker 1: those seeds that take forever to germinate also meant that 468 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: kad zoo could crop up again in places where people 469 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: thought it had been removed, and then especially in more 470 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: remote areas, that meant it could establish another foothold before 471 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: anybody really noticed. In nineteen fifty three, the U. S 472 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: d A stopped advocating kadzoo's use for groundcover and for fodder. 473 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: The kad Zoo Club of America disbanded sometime in the 474 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties as well. In nineteen sixty two, the Soil 475 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: Conservation Service recommended the planting of kad zoo only in 476 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: areas that were far away from homes orchards, forests, and fences, 477 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 1: basically anything that could be overrun if the plant was 478 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: not carefully managed. That same year, Channing Cope died. He 479 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: had continued to grow kud zoo on his property and 480 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: to advocate for it even after the government had really 481 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: stopped its support, and as his property had become increasingly overgrown, 482 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: he had also refused to allow officials and to try 483 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: to control it. So he had this secluded property with 484 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: kudzoo covered arbors and alcoves, and that became a popular 485 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: hangout for teenagers and a story that was attributed to 486 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: his friend Philip Cohen. His death followed a heart attack 487 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: while he was going out to yell at some teens 488 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: to get off of his property. That's such a heartbreaking, 489 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: Lee Mimi death like the um. In two the U. 490 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,760 Speaker 1: S Government declared kad zoo a weed, and in it 491 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: was added to the Federal Noxious Weed Act. By this point, 492 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,320 Speaker 1: multiple states and municipalities had laws on the book prohibiting 493 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: the planting of kad zoo or levying fines for allowing 494 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: it to spread beyond a person's own property. Although the 495 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: federal noxious weed list is no longer including kad zoo, 496 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 1: it is still classified as a noxious weed in several 497 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: states in the US. Today, kudzoo is primarily associated with 498 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: the Southeast and especially the Deep South. But it grows 499 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 1: in thirty two states, stretching all the way north to 500 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: Maine and west to Texas, with a few patches also 501 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: found in Washington and Oregon. Katzoo has also been discovered 502 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: in southern Ontario, Canada. It doesn't proliferate as much in 503 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:25,240 Speaker 1: places that are colder or drier than the southeastern US, 504 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,240 Speaker 1: although it can still sustain itself and spread. And then, 505 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: of course, there are also concerns about how global warming 506 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 1: might expand this plant's favored range. Seemingly every source on 507 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,239 Speaker 1: kudzoo reports that it covers somewhere between seven million and 508 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: nine million acres of land in the US today and 509 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: that it spreads at a rate of a hundred and 510 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 1: fifty thousand acres a year. And if you've ever driven 511 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: a highway or ridden on a train and seem huge 512 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: swaths of kad zoo growing along the banks and uphillsides 513 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: and covering trees and telephone poles, that probably sounds about right. 514 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: Looking out the window, it can feel like you're seeing 515 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: the edge of an impenetrable, endless expanse of kudzoo. But 516 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, kutzoo loves full sun. It can't 517 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 1: penetrate deep into the trees because it's just too shady 518 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: along the forest floor. Yeah, it really likes the edges. 519 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 1: And if you're in the car looking out the window, 520 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 1: like the edge is what you're seeing. Uh, that's seven 521 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:26,000 Speaker 1: to nine million acre number also seems to be just 522 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: hugely inflated. According to an article in Smithsonian Magazine by 523 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: Bill Finch, lead horticulture and science advisor to the Mobile 524 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,160 Speaker 1: Botanical Gardens in Alabama, this figure seems to have come 525 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,480 Speaker 1: from a small garden club publication and not from a 526 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: rigorous study. The U S Forest Services most recent Kudzoo 527 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: survey took place in and at that point, Kudzoo covered 528 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: only an estimated two hundred twenty seven thousand acres of 529 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: forest in the US, spreading by about two thousand, five 530 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: hundred acres a year. There is no official agency measuring 531 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: how much kudzoo is growing outside of forests, but research 532 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: ecologist Jim Miller has estimated that Kudzoo covers about five 533 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: hundred thousand acres of urban and suburban land. That's a lot, 534 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: but it is so much less than nine million acres. 535 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 1: It is also a lot less than many other invasive 536 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:27,280 Speaker 1: plant species in the US, including Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese private 537 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: English ivy, air potatoes, and tallow trees. In general, kudzoo 538 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: is demonized in a way that these other more widespread 539 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:39,479 Speaker 1: and often more destructive plants simply or not. There's even 540 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: a possibility that the amount of kad zoo in the 541 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:46,280 Speaker 1: United States is starting to decline, although some people argue 542 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: that we should learn to live with and use kudzoo 543 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,760 Speaker 1: rather than trying to eradicate it. Officials and property owners 544 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 1: all over the country have been working to get rid 545 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: of it for decades, using everything from aggressive cutting to 546 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: controlled burns, to urbside its, grazing animals, and one of 547 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: my favorite stories from my research for this in two 548 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: thousand and six, goats were being used to try to 549 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: control kudzoo near Chattanooga. They kept being attacked by dogs, 550 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: so they brought in donkeys to guard the goats, and 551 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 1: that didn't work, so the next year they switched to 552 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 1: guard lamas. I mean, if you've ever seen an angry lama, 553 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: this makes all the sense on earth absolutely. Earlier we 554 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: talked about how insects feed on kut zoo in Asia, 555 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: and one of these, the Japanese kudzoo bug, was first 556 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:41,080 Speaker 1: spotted near Atlanta in two thousand nine, probably having arrived 557 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,800 Speaker 1: on board an international flight. This bug has since spread 558 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,800 Speaker 1: to multiple adjacent states, and it seems to have reduced 559 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: the spread of kud zoo in these areas, in some 560 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: cases quite dramatically. The Japanese kudzoo bug also feeds on 561 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,440 Speaker 1: another invasive plant with Syria, but since it feeds on 562 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:02,719 Speaker 1: soybean crops as well, its introduction is not entirely welcomed. 563 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: Although katzoo's physical presence in the southeastern United States is 564 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: a lot smaller than is widely reported, its cultural presence 565 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 1: is just huge. During its heyday and popularity, there were 566 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: things like kudzoo festivals and katzoo pageants and kudzoo queens, 567 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: and those mostly faded away as enthusiasm for the plant 568 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: fell off, but some of them have been revived in 569 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,439 Speaker 1: more recent years. Kadzu has also become a recurring theme 570 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,160 Speaker 1: in Southern literature, something that mostly started after the plant 571 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: became more vilified than praised. James Dickey published a poem 572 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: called Kudzoo in The New Yorker in nineteen sixty three. 573 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: The poem is full of foreboding imagery, including green, mindless, 574 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 1: unkillable ghosts. It's quoted very frequently in books and articles 575 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: about Kudzoo, regardless of whether they're popular academic, although most 576 00:36:55,560 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: sources do not quote its first words, Japan Invades. The 577 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,399 Speaker 1: syndicated comic strip Kudzoo depicted rural Southerners, and that ran 578 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:08,799 Speaker 1: from one until shortly after its creator, Doug Marlette's death 579 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:14,080 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven. I Number one found just a 580 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: surprisingly large number of poems in my search results of 581 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,560 Speaker 1: of databases containing academic papers that that I consult for 582 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: the show, way more poems than I think have been 583 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: found in any other research process that was not specifically 584 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: about a poet. Number two, Man, I got so sick 585 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 1: of that James Dicky poem. Maybe you would talk more 586 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:42,360 Speaker 1: about that in the behind the scenes. Especially as Kudzoo's 587 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:46,239 Speaker 1: reputation declined after the nineteen fifties, it became kind of 588 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: a shorthand for southern ness. Often the idea of Kudzoo 589 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:54,880 Speaker 1: conscious up associations with poverty and neglect and decline thanks 590 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:59,600 Speaker 1: to photos of it overrunning things like abandoned barnes and tractors, 591 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: but at the same time it's still somewhat celebrated with roads, businesses, festivals, 592 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,840 Speaker 1: music groups, restaurants, breweries and beers all named after it, 593 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 1: and I am sure many other things too. Back when 594 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: I was living in Atlanta, close to where I lived 595 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:19,160 Speaker 1: was was kud Zoo Antique Small It's one of my 596 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 1: favorite places to go poke around. Anyway, that's kad Zoo, 597 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: brought to you by my personal curiosity, prompted by a 598 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: random headline during the week. Do you also have listener mail? Sure? Do. 599 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:39,400 Speaker 1: This is from William and it is uh. It follows 600 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: our episode on on the Haymarket Riot, and William says, Hi, 601 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:45,680 Speaker 1: Holly and Tracy, I've been a listener to stuff you 602 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:47,759 Speaker 1: miss in history class for over ten years, and I 603 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:51,799 Speaker 1: absolutely love this show. Your Unearthed episodes helped inspire me 604 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: to go back to grad school and get my master's 605 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,399 Speaker 1: degree in archaeology. Maybe one day soon I'll uncover something 606 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:01,160 Speaker 1: worth featuring on the show. As a resident of Chicago, 607 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:03,040 Speaker 1: I will say that it is always great to hear 608 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,759 Speaker 1: episodes about the history of our city. The memory of 609 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,360 Speaker 1: the incident was recently brought back to the four in 610 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:13,440 Speaker 1: an unusual way. In eighteen, a new folk musical called 611 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:16,120 Speaker 1: Haymarket premiered in Chicago and I was able to catch 612 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:20,239 Speaker 1: a performance. It was a fairly small production, with the 613 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 1: cast doubling as musicians, but was extremely heartfelt and informative. 614 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,280 Speaker 1: When you mentioned the eight hours of work, eight hours 615 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: of rest, eight hours for what we will slogan in 616 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:32,759 Speaker 1: the episode, I caught myself humming a phrase from the 617 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 1: musical for the rest of the day. The soundtrack is 618 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,440 Speaker 1: available on iTunes and Spotify, and I thought you and 619 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:40,960 Speaker 1: the listeners may enjoy it, especially in connection with the 620 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,040 Speaker 1: latest episode can't Wait for more Stuff you miss in 621 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,320 Speaker 1: History Class, William Well. First off, William, congrats on getting 622 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,240 Speaker 1: your masters in archaeology. I feel honored that our show 623 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:55,440 Speaker 1: had anything to do with your your inspiration to do that. Um. 624 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,799 Speaker 1: I think I stumbled across a couple of references to 625 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 1: the Haymarket mu csicle during my research, and it was 626 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:03,600 Speaker 1: one of those things that just didn't make it into 627 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,680 Speaker 1: the episode, but I am glad to check out some 628 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 1: songs from it when I have a moment to do so. 629 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,959 Speaker 1: So thank you William for reminding me of that. Giving 630 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:14,640 Speaker 1: us a chance to talk about it on the show. 631 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:17,600 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 632 00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:20,400 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, we're at History Podcast at i 633 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,280 Speaker 1: heart radio dot com, and we're all over social media 634 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,440 Speaker 1: at Missed in History. That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 635 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: and Instagram. And you can subscribe to our show on 636 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,440 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app and wherever you like to 637 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is 638 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,120 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 639 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,520 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 640 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.