ARBORICULTURE. 



341 



B0J8 D'ARC, OSAGE ORANGE, MAC- 

 LURA AURANTIACEAE. 



The only forests of osage are in the 

 small belt about the corner of Texas, Ar- 

 kjiiisas and Indian Territory. 



A correspondent from Vincennes, Ind.. 

 wishes to know whei'e to obtain seed of 

 hedge for posts. 



There are persons in Arkansas, Indian 

 'J'erritorv and Texas who make a business 

 of collecting the oranges from the osage 

 trees, and by gi'inding them the seed is 

 separated from the pulp. Washed and 

 dried, they are sent to wholesale seed (Idal- 

 ors in most western cities. 



In planting the bag of seed is placed in 

 a sti'eam of water to soak or swell up the 

 liard outer seed covering, and while moist 

 are sown in drills, where they remain for 

 one season's groAvtb. 



The wood is very durable, but is ex- 

 tremely hard, dilfieult to Avork with G'dge 

 tools, and disagreeable to handle on 8c- 

 covmt of the many poisonous thorns. In 

 the forest the trees are crooked, low. 

 spreading and very much branched. In 

 former times some wagon work was made 

 in the native locality with bois d'arc, i!ui 

 it would be too expensive and difticnlt to 

 compete witli oak and hickory. 



Forty years ago vast numbers of osage 

 trees were grown for making hedges. 

 Many thousands of miles of such hedges 

 are yet in existence, although few are now 

 being made because of the abundance of 

 wire for fencing. Some of these old herlge 

 fences have been cut back, making fence 

 posts of the M'ood. 



The farmer who considers this economy 

 of labor now must have time hanging heav- 

 ily on his hands. 



As a forest proposition the maclura has 

 not proven a success. The young plants 

 follow their instinct and bow to the 

 ground. When a horse approaches in 

 plowing then the thorns have a disagree- 

 able habit of penetrating the horse's flesh. 



The OrKx Coukt publishes an excellent 

 work. Plant-Breeding, by Hugo De Vries, pro- 

 fessor of botany, in the university of Amster- 

 dam. 



While all persons will not accede to the 

 author's assumption of the correctness of Dar- 

 winian theory of evolution, but we do give 

 credence to the prtictical work of Luther Bur- 

 bank in hastening natural changes. 



During long periods of time there are 

 marked- changes in both animal and vegeta- 

 ble organizations. 



The oak, for example, is continuousiy un- 

 dergoing variations; as we see in every oak 

 forest, hybrids of the red oak family are 

 often raore numerous than are the true spe- 

 cies. Yet in the beech variations are almost 

 imperceptible. 



The most rapid change, however, seems to 

 be in plants and flowers of quicker maturity. 

 Trees which require a century or more for 

 reproduction by seed would naturally remain 

 stable during the lifetime of many genera- 

 tions of men,, while the annual plant has 

 greater opportunities for natural hyt)ridiza- 

 tion. 



Luther Burbank, by studying the habits and 

 characteristics of plants, and bringing the 

 pollen of certain relative plants into contact 

 with the flowers in a single season produces 

 thousands of hybrids while nature may re- 

 quire a century to produce one' change. 



This book is profusely illustrated while 

 the arguments and discussions are extremely 

 interesting. 



The work is deserving an extensive circula- 

 tion. Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago. 



THE TALL JUNIPER OF AFRICA. 



General William J. Palmer has received 

 a letter from Mr, P. L. Sclater, of Eng- 

 land, with some seeds of the tall Juniper, 

 Juniperus procera, the finest timber of 

 British East Africa, and which grows at 

 on elevation of 10,000 feet above sea level 

 on the escarpment between the coast and 

 Jjake Victoria. 



Mr. Sclater, who was the head of the 

 Zc)Ological park in Ijondon for thirty or 

 forty years, th'nks this tree may succeed 

 vrell in the higher Rocky Mountains. 



