^8Ba>aMroMa6TO!j! TOro!KtiK ^^ 



American Forest Trees 



NINETY-KIFTH PAPER 



Siipt'^i'i'icni 10 Hrventicth Pttprr, March Kf, 1908 



OSAGE ORANGE 



ToiTylon pom»/er«m-Knf. Madura aurantiaca-T^lutt. 



The natural range of the osage orange is from southern 

 Arkansas (south of the Arkansas river) through southeastern Okla- 

 homa and southern Texas. Its range for economic planting, how- 

 ever, includes the middle western states from central Illinois south- 

 ward and westward to eastern Colorado and New Mexico. It is 

 hardy as far north as Massachu- 

 setts but is likely to be winter 

 killed during severe season in the 

 northern part of Iowa, Nebraska 

 and Illinois. In forests its princi- 

 pal associates are the hickories, 

 the elms and the oaks. It grows 

 on rich bottom lands and fertile 

 slopes and is most abundant and 

 attains its best development in the 

 valley of the Red river in Okla- 

 homa. The tree is also known by 

 a number of other names, among 

 which are bois d 'arc, bodock, bow 

 dark, mock orange, bow-wood, 

 osage apple tree, yellow wood. 

 hedge, hedge plant, and osage. 



The osage orange is a tree of 

 medium size, with a short trunk, 

 ridged scaly bark and wide spread- 

 ing branches. It forms a hand 

 some open irregular round topped 

 head. The branchlets are light 

 green, often tinged with red and 

 coated with soft pubescence when 

 they first appear. The winter buds 

 are partly immersed in the bark 

 and are covered by a few round 

 light chestnut brown scales. The 

 bark is two-third inch to one inch 

 thick and deep and irregularly di- 

 vided into broad rounded ridges. 

 Within its natural range the tree 

 oeeasionali.v reaches a height of 

 sixty or seventy feet and a dia- 

 meter of two feet. It usually, how- 

 ever, is not more than thirty to 

 forty feet high and about a foot 

 in diameter. It produces a com- 

 pound globular fruit, four inches 

 to five inches in diameter, that 

 looks somewhat like an orange, is 

 yellow when ripe in the autumn 

 and contains a large number of 

 seeds. 



The osage orange adajits itself 

 to a great variety of soil and cli- 

 matic conditions. It rarely suc- 

 cumbs to drought and on this ac- 

 count is one of the most desirable 



trees for planting in the Middle West. It is fairly tolerant of 

 shade, and consequently is well adapted for planting in mixture. 

 The usual rate of growth under good conditions is one-quarter 

 to one-third of an inch in diameter yearly. Height growth is 

 relatively slow after the first few years. On good soil the osage 

 will produce fence posts in about fifteen years. It is usually free 

 ■ from any serious fungus attack, and a tree with decayed heart- 

 wood is seldom found. 



2.S— 



TYPICAL OSAGE OIIANGE GltOWTH, KANSAS 



Eeproduetion is abundant from seed, suckers, and stump sprouts, 

 and when an osage is once established, its complete removal is a 

 matter of some difficulty. Sprout growth furnishes the best means 

 for reproducing a plantation for posts or fuel since the young 

 trees grow from the stumps with great vigor and the second 



crop is more likely to consist of 

 straight, tall timber than the first 

 unless, of course, the trees of the 

 original plantation were cut back 

 for two or three years after plant- 

 ing. The osage orange may also 

 be propagated from root cuttings 

 and from seed, the pistillate trees 

 bearing oranges in abundance. 



In planting, the trees should be 

 set close to overcome the tendency 

 towards profuse branching, and 

 should not be more than three feet 

 by six feet or four feet by six 

 feet apart. It is well adapted for 

 planting in mixture with light- 

 loving species such as black wal- 

 nut, locust and ash. 



The wood of the osage is yellow 

 in color, heavy, strong and hard. 

 It is close-grained, compact, very 

 durable in contact with the 

 ground and susceptible of a very 

 high polish. The bright orange 

 color of the wood turns slightly 

 brown on exposure. Many years 

 ago the Indians used the osage 

 for bows on account of its great 

 strength and elasticity, and on this 

 account travelers called it bow- 

 wood, or in French, bois d'arc. 

 Later on the osage came into use 

 extensively for posts and other 

 uses on the farm. Although the 

 osage does not attain large size, 

 nevertheless much of it is sawed 

 by small mills and finds its way 

 into use for wagon felloes, insula- 

 tor pins, tool handles, small parts 

 of machinery, and oftentimes into 

 cabinet work. It sometimes is 

 used also for railroad ties. In a 

 recent investigation of its utiliza- 

 tion by the United States Forest 

 Service, it was found that its uses 

 in the order of their importance 

 were approximately as follows: 

 Posts, piling, house blocks, wagon 

 felloes, insulator pins, and tele- 

 phone poles, the posts consuming 

 approximately ninety per cent of the total. During the past few 

 years the osage has also found use in a small way for numerous 

 products. Among such are police clubs, clock cases, canes, wooden 

 rollers, rustic- rockers and benches, parquetry flooring, tobacco 

 pipes and wood paving. The bark is sometimes employed in tan- 

 ning leather, but its commercial value is not sufficient to induce 

 operators to peel the logs they take to the mills or the posts they 

 send to the markets. Its use for this purpose, however, should 



