- Title
- State
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- Date
- January 1984
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- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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State
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Attack By Kudzu!
Our writer explains liow insidious
forces plotted to bring America to its
knees — and almost succeeded.
tty T. II. PEARCE
Seems like every periodical I have
picked up in recent months contains
some article or photograph dealing
with that monstrous blight. Pueraria
hunbergiana. Photographs of this
creeping menace, commonly called
kudzu. have adorned the pages of
many of our newspapers and have
been shown on television news pro¬
grams.
Most of the articles mention that the
vine was brought to this country from
Japan for our centennial celebration
back in 1876 and that it was hailed as a
wonder plant. Of late I have even
noticed an affectionate tone when
some reporters write or speak of the
luxuriant growth.
I read most of these articles with a
degree of amusement, being one of the
few people who know the true story of
this horrible, green plague. Having
made a lengthy study of the plant and
its horrible potential. I had decided to
keep my findings secret, not wishing to
bring panic to the populace.
However, events occurred which
made me decide that my findings
should be made public. The first of
these was the appearance of an article
. . . form crop*. troeton ond *low-movmg mulct were
no moteh for ihe Orienlol vine . . .
in the August issue of this very
magazine to the effect that someone in
Boston had published a book on
kudzu. Well, you know what happens
almost everytime those folks up there
bring out a book concerning what goes
on in the South: so I decided that the
truth must be told. This decision was
even strengthened when I actually saw
a copy of the book in a local store.
Don't be fooled by what this book says
about the culinary and medicinal value
of kudzu. Kudzu is our enemy and it is
out to get us. I’ll explain my reasons
for this statement, based on the results
of my study.
The New “Attack" Strain
As best I can determine the plant
was actually sent over here by the
Japanese in 1876. as previously stated,
proving beyond doubt that they had
designs on our country even that long
before World War II: but this was a
rather harmless strain of Pueraria
thunbergiana. not to be compared w ith
the variety Banzai developed by in¬
sidious Oriental scientists in the 1930s.
Think back, if you will, to just when
kudzu so widely planted across the
south. It was in the late 1930s and it
was planted without restraint by gov¬
ernment employees. This just hap¬
pened to be during the same period that
the Japanese sent fleets of so-called
fishing boats to our coastal waters for
the apparently innocent work of fish¬
ing. Events transpired that showed
these fishing fleets had actually been
engaged in spying on our coastal de¬
fenses. navy installations, etc.
”. . . the former* disoppeored a* the kud«u engulfed
them, and the building* ond form *oon followed the
*omc poth . . ." Only the very top of thu two-*to«y
building *till *how* (photo* by T H. Peorce)
THE STATE. JANUARY 1984
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