1910. 
T M hC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
960 
THE KUDZU VINE AS FORAGE. 
Its Value In Florida. 
Many persons in the North are growing the kudzu 
vine, Pueraria Thunbergiana, as an ornamental climber, 
especially where a quick growth is needed on a trel.is 
or fence, or even a veranda, though we would not 
recommend it for this latter purpose because we do 
not think it handsome enough. However, the kudztt 
grows quickly (from 20 to 40, and even 00 feet in a 
season) ; it is clean, free from insect pests and has an 
abiding value among garden climbers for its hardi¬ 
ness and rapid growth. It is a legume from China and 
Japan, where its tuberous root is used for starch, and 
the fibre of the tough inner bark for making a sort of 
cloth. The foliage is like that of a large-leaved bean, 
and clusters of reddish-purple (lowers, shown in Fig. 
417, are produced on the old wood. In the North it 
is sometimes several seasons before it is sufficiently 
established to bloom. 
It appears, however, that in the South the kudzu 
has forage value, and is also, like other legumes, a soil 
improver. C. E. Pleas, of Washington Co., Fla., has 
carried on a series of experiments during the past two 
years which persuade him that the kudzu excels cow 
peas or velvet beans for hay or pasture; it starts early, 
cures quickly, and yields 10 tons of fodder to the acre, 
with a high protein content. Mr. Pleas says: 
“On May 1, 1908, I measured off a plot 30 feet 
square (as large as l could get), in the patch of 
matured plants in front of the barn, and cut it with a 
scythe, finishing it at 9 A. M. The crop was very 
heavy and I turned it bottom up, to make it dry evenly. 
We had a big rain the day before and the weather was 
very cool for that time of year, yet the hay was in per¬ 
fect condition for the loft by noon the next day, just 
28 hours from cutting. On weighing it later there was 
150 pounds of the dry hay, which is at the rate of 3.03 
tons per acre. This cutting analyzed 17.60 per cent 
protein; 34.33 per cent starch and sugar, according to 
the State chemist’s report. This is a little better than 
wheat bran. On June 12 I cut this same square again, 
getting two tons per acre. On July 30 I cut a 2.89 ton 
cutting, and on September 18 I took a 2.43 ton cutting 
off the same place, making a total of 10.95 in one sea¬ 
son. A sample of the third cutting was also sent to 
the State chemist for analysis, with the result of 14.80 
per cent protein, and 35.05 per cent starch and sugar. 
And I will add here that this was very poor land when 
I got it 12 years ago and was in weeds, 
briars and sedge grass when kudzu was 
planted on it. More recent plantings 
have clearly shown that kudzu is not 
choice about the kind of soil, location 
or fertilizer, and I feel quite safe in 
saying that it will make such yields in 
a field of 10 or even 100 acres (with a 
reasonable allowance for inaccuracy in 
measuring and weighing in small 
amounts). 
“The first cutting each year is about 
like velyet bean hay for coarseness, but 
decidedly better in .feed value, as it 
doesn’t shed its leaves in curing; keeps 
its color perfectly, analyzes better and 
cures in one-half the time. It requires 
the same labor to handle as velvet bean 
hay. The after-cuttings each year, 
while not analyzing so high as the first 
are much finer and shorter growth and 
more easily handled, and is unquestion¬ 
ably the best-looking hay I have ever 
seen. In the Spring of 1908 (in Febru¬ 
ary), I set out three-fourths of an 
acre, mostly culled-over plants left from 
shipping, setting them about 8x10 feet 
apart. This is at the rate of 400 plants 
per acre. In July, 1009, 17 months from 
planting, this field stood waist deep on 
a level, with a yield of a little over two 
tons per acre. I would not advise cut¬ 
ting it the second season, however, as 
the newly-set plants are thus cut off 
from the supply of nourishment of the 
parent vine. It may be pastured lightly 
with calves, sheep, or hogs with rings 
in their noses, late in the Fall. This I 
have tried, turning a Jersey calf in on 
this piece last November and it must have gained 50 
pounds in the 30 days it was left in and without in¬ 
jury to the plants. 
“I am reliably informed that northern-grown 
kudzu plants do not produce the bacteria nodules (or 
nitrogen gatherers), unless inoculated, while I do 
not think it would be possible to find a plant on my 
farm without them. On the other hand, seeds do 
not germinate in the South, as I have many letters 
reporting absolute failures, and my own experiments 
have shown that what few do germinate are small 
and inferior plants, as compared to those rooted on 
the parent vines, hence I have discarded all meth¬ 
ods of propagation except nature’s plan of self-root¬ 
ing and self-inoculating through the vines of the par¬ 
ent plants. I never think of fertilizing kudzu, and 
do not think it would pay in the end, as the plants 
are so admirably adapted to do their own fertilizing 
by depositing nitrogen and humus in the soil. I have 
a small plant in my office that by actual count bears 
live, but many years, and in the pasture or hay 
field, when one dies, there are others to fill the 
place. 
“The question has been asked, ‘How can kudzu be 
cut for hay when the vines take root at every joint?’ 
The answer is, that the vines, or runners, have no 
tendency to take root until midsummer, when near¬ 
ing maturity, and if hay is the object, they will be 
cut before reaching this stage, while for pasture, it 
matters not if they do take root, the more the bet¬ 
ter. As a matter of fact, only about one joint in 
a dozen ever takes root, even where the entire vine 
lies flat on the bare ground and, after the first cut¬ 
ting is taken off (each season), there is no tendency 
to root, the vines being too numerous and fine to 
trail on the ground. I have not tried the plant yet 
on low', wet land, though some have stood under 
water for a week at a time, without injury, in wet 
seasons. That is one of the experiments to be tried 
out this year, and many who have wet or overflow 
lands await the results with much interest.” 
FLOWERS OF KUDZU VINE. Fio. 417. 
over 1,800 of these nodules on the upper half of the 
roots (the lower half being cut away in digging). 
“The time for setting kudzu plants varies in differ¬ 
ent latitudes. In South Florida they can probably 
be planted at any time during November, December, 
January and February. February to March is the 
proper season for North Florida, Georgia, Alabama, 
Mississippi, etc., and March, April and May for 
points farther north. This is because plants cannot 
be safely transplanted in warm weather, in the lower 
South, at least. We have to quit digging arid plant¬ 
ing here April 1 or earlier. For planting kudzu, 
FIELD OF KUDZU FIVE MONTHS PLANTED. Fig. 418. 
SAME FIELD ONE YEAR LATER. Fig. 419. 
lay off rows five feet apart, and set plants eight 
feet apart in every other row, using a spade in 
planting, thus making the plants 8x10 feet apart, and 
requiring 400 to the acre. I set the spade full depth 
in the soil; push the handle from me and pull it out. 
The plant is then set in the hole, forked end down, 
and with the crown about an inch below the sur¬ 
face, pressing the earth down with the feet. This is 
done two to three weeks ahead of the corn-planting 
time, and I should think would hold good in any 
of the Southern States, possibly so in all localities. 
It is not known how long a single kudzu plant will 
COST OF CLEARING WESTERN LANDS. 
Experience in Skamania County, Washington. 
In regard to your front page article as to cost of 
clearing land in the State of Washington, I thought I 
might give you something authentic. I am clearing 55 
acres on the bank of the Columbia River, in Skamania 
County, Washington, right across the Columbia from 
Hood River. It has cost me close to $200 an acre 
to clear what land I have cleared this year. I have 
now contracted to clear 15 acres more at $150 an 
acre. I have been burning up the finest kind of 
timber to get rid of it, but now a sawmill has 
started up near by and I am getting 50 cents a 
thousand feet for the average timber arid $1 a thou¬ 
sand for the very choice timber. It takes from $30 
to $50 worth of dynamite to the acre to blast out 
those enormous stumps. Land there cleared and 
planted to apples is worth about $500 an acre; of 
course, I mean trees just planted, apple twigs about 
as big around as your little finger. This will give 
some idea of the terrific expense there is connected 
with clearing and planting apple land in the far 
Northwest. 
I see by the Hood River press that a large New 
York City firm has again bought all the apples of 
the Hood River district through the Apple Grow¬ 
ers’ Union at a price that will aver¬ 
age $2 a bushel box. A half million 
is involved in this deal. These apples 
will not be picked for a month yet, and 
yet they are all sold. This same firm 
has bought the Hood River crop for 
the past three years. These apples cost 
the consumer from $4 to $6 a box in 
New York City. w. s. M. 
New York. 
“ FILLERS ” IN APPLE ORCHARD. 
As to the use of peaches, I am opposed 
to that. Land that is suited to peaches 
has no business to have an apple on it. 
The peaches will pay better in this State. 
Next, if the situation is doubtful, one 
is apt to work for the peaches and the 
apples will suffer, and last, I have yet 
to see a good sample of apple orchard 
where the peaches have been removed, 
although, as in case of the college 
grounds, the peach trees have paid well. 
This only places it under the first head. 
I am testing a modification on some 
doubtful peach land, planting alternate 
rows of peaches and apples, the apple 
rows being half fillers. I am planting 
more apples each year and all are planted 
with fillers standing now 10jAx20 feet, 
three-fourths being fillers. We have 
filler-planted orchards here at the college 
now bearing and doing well. We have 
begun the thinning; I find it no trouble. 
I do not expect to. I am sure the extra 
trees have more than paid for them¬ 
selves. I cannot give figures. If a man 
had use for general farm crops or con¬ 
venient market for some of them, the 
open system with the use of crops in the young 
orchard will work well, if the owner does not think 
more of the crop than the orchard. But I have never 
seen anything yet to change my plan after a trial of 
twelve years. a. G. gulley. 
Connecticut Agricultural College. 
Kapok is a material now largely used for stuffing 
mattresses, pillows, cushions, furniture, and even life¬ 
buoys. It is a floss which surrounds the seeds of the 
silk-cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra, which grows in Java 
and other parts of the East Indies. The material is 
also called Java cotton 
