THE OSAGE ORANGE OR BOW-WOOD 



FROM several points of view the Osage Orange is a tree of extraordinary interest 

 The historian will tell you that long before the settlement of America by the 

 whites, the Indians used the wood for war-clubs and bows, a custom that gave 

 rise to one of its common names Bow-wood and that its other common name is due 

 to the fact that it was introduced into cultivation among the earliest settlers in St. Louis 

 by specimens procured from the Osage Indians. He will add that during the development 

 of the great prairie region beyond the Mississippi the species served an important purpose 

 as a hedge plant, thousands of farmers utilizing it for fencing their fields, although the 

 introduction of improved wire-fencing materials has rendered such hedges of comparatively 

 little imoortance to-day. But these old hedges now furnish fence-posts of extraordinary 

 value. 



The botanist will tell you that the Osage Orange is of interest from root to fruit. 

 The bark of the roots is of a bright orange color and furnishes a yellow dye ; the ridged 

 and scaly bark of the trunk furnishes tannin for making leather ; the branches have attrac- 

 tive leaves with curious thorns at their bases ; the pollen-bearing and seed-bearing flowers 

 are borne upon separate trees, the former, as may be seen on the upper twig shown in the 

 plate, being in abundant clusters, and the latter, as may be seen in the lower twig, being 

 in round heads. Each of these round heads matures into one of the strangest fruits known 

 to science : the so-called " orange " is a greenish compound fruit made up of a large number 

 of seed-bearing fruits grown together on their edges. 



The landscape gardener will tell you that the Osage Orange is of especial interest 

 because it is hardy at the North, although its native home is in the region of the old Indian 

 Territory, and because of its ease of propagation and the variety of uses to which it can 

 be put. It grows readily from green wood cuttings and serves admirably for hedges as 

 well as for single planting, making in the latter case a bushy tree which when loaded with 

 fruit is sure to attract general attention. It has also the great advantage of comparative 

 freedom from attack by insect and fungus enemies. 



In its original region the Osage Orange sometimes reaches a height of sixty feet and 

 a trunk diameter of three feet. It grows especially along the river bottoms in parts of 

 Arkansas, the old Indian Territory and Texas. 



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