KUDZU.

KUDZU; AGRICULTURE; AGRICULTURAL history; PLEAS, Charles; SOIL conservation; GREAT Depression, 1929-1939; COPE, Channing

The article discusses kudzu, a Japanese climbing vines, and examines its role in the agricultural history of the U.S. since its introduction in 1876. It profiles the cultivation of kudzu by Charles and Lillie Pleas in the early 1900s as a forage crop, describes ways in which the U.S. government promoted the use of kudzu to control soil erosion in the Southern U.S. during the Great Depression, and chronicles the front porch farming strategy of Georgia farmer Channing Cope.