CHAPTER V 



WILD HONEYSUCKLE 



Many and various are the ways of the wild Honey- 

 suckle. In woody places it will trail about the ground 

 and weave a loose copse-carpet from ankle to mid-leg 

 deep, making many a snare for the unwary walker. 

 One must step high and clear the foot each time, or 

 one is likely to be thrown down by the tangled web of 

 vegetable cordage. In this state it does not flower, 

 but where there is a clearing and more light it takes 

 advantage of any suitable support, and then seems to 

 go up with a rush, and tumbles out in swags and 

 garlands that in the long summer days are lovely and 

 fragrant with the wealth of sweetly-scented bloom. 

 During my wood walk I come upon a young Oak with 

 a trunk about a foot thick. I should judge that it is 

 sixty feet high, and the top is full of Honeysuckle. 

 In this case the Honeysuckle throws up three main 

 stems from the ground. At a foot from the root two 

 of these have twined together and make a fairly even 

 two-stranded rope. A little higher they are joined by 

 the third, and at six feet from the ground the three 

 twine tightly and look like a badly-spun rope nearly 

 two inches thick. So they advance up the tree, some- 



