38 



is plenty of light, never, or very rarely produce flowers, but ex- 

 pend their surplus energy in adding to the netw^ork of tangled 

 cords that covers the ground wherever this ruthless invader gets 

 a foot hold. It will climb as high as heaven if it can find any- 

 thing to lean on, converting the wooded areas in the moist river 

 bottoms into an impenetrable jungle with its tangled cords of 

 interlacing vines; or if forced to accept an humbler position, 

 crawling with equal facility over the gullied slopes of arid hill- 



F:g. I. — Japanese honeysuckle covering the side of a railroad cut near Rome, 

 Ga. The white patches in the foreground are not snow, but naked portions of 

 the very sterile yellow clay soil. 



sides or along the borders of dusty roads. This faculty might 

 be turned to good account in stopping washes and covering un- 

 sightly clay banks, though its utility for such purposes seems never 

 to have been tested. But while accommodating itself readily to 

 almost any conditions, it shows a marked preference for moist 

 woodlands and the borders of streams, and as its presence in 

 such places does not interfere with the crops, or threaten any 

 direct pecuniary loss, it has not attracted the attention of either 

 the economist or the agriculturist. 



