MISCELLANEOUS PERENNIAL LEGUMES 563 



it is said that after immersing it 5 minutes in boiling 

 water a germination of 95 per cent may be obtained. The 

 seed costs about 25 cents per pound. 



Fields are usually left 3 years or more and may yield as 

 high as 5 tons of hay per season. 



Fairly satisfactory results with sulla have been secured 

 in southern Texas with irrigation, but under such conditions 

 it cannot compete with alfalfa. At the Massachusetts 

 Experiment Station it is said to have lived for several 

 years. 



680. Kudzu (Pueraria thunbergiana) is a woody, legu- 

 minous vine native to Japan. The leaves resemble in a 

 general way those of the common bean, but they are larger 

 and angularly lobed, besides being tougher in texture ; 

 the stems and leaf stalks are somewhat hairy. As far 

 north as Maryland the vine will bloom, but only occasion- 

 ally, and then late in the fall. The blossoms are dull pur- 

 ple-red in pendent racemes, but a white-flowered variety 

 is said to occur in Japan. The pods are thin, very hairy 

 and do not mature in the latitude of Washington, D.C. 



Kuclzu is remarkable for its very rapid growth during 

 the warm weather of midsummer. It succeeds well in 

 the humid eastern part of the United States, and will 

 grow in almost any type of soil. It succeeds best, how- 

 ever, with an abundance of heat and moisture. Kudzu 

 is a most excellent vine for arbors and porches, for which 

 purpose it is grown in most of the southern cities, 

 climbing to a height of 60 feet or more, It survives 

 winter as far north as Nova Scotia. 



Kudzu was probably first introduced in the United 

 States in 1876, when it was grown at the Centennial 

 Exposition in Philadelphia. It is only recently, however, 

 that it has created interest as a forage crop, due largely 



