A FRIEND UNRECOGNIZED 65 



his desire for a striking color, first utilized the 

 Osage Orange, a tree native to portions of 

 Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In appearance it 

 is rather irregular growing and stunted, but valuable 

 for decorative purposes. The heavy, hard and dura- 

 ble wood is also much in demand for wagon and 

 vehicle making. The coloring extract is chiefly- 

 found in the wood itself, but comes also from the 

 bark and roots, and under the trade name of 

 "Aurantine," is considered a valuable and useful dye 

 capable of withstanding light or washing. Although 

 best used on wools it can also be applied to paper, 

 wood, leather, and cotton, where it gives various 

 ^shades of orange, gold, tan and olive. Many thou- 

 sand tono of this wood, representing refuse from the 

 vehicle manufacture above mentioned, are now 

 wasted every year because conditions have not 

 apparently justified an extension of its use in com- 

 petition with aniline colors. Many dye-woods are 

 imported from South and Central America and the 

 West Indies, but the only other North American 

 tree at present utilized for this purpose is sumach, 

 and that only to a small extent. Used on cloth and 

 fine leather it also gives a yellow tone. We some- 

 times hear the claim that vegetable colors in general 

 are more durable than the coal-tar aniline dyes. 

 This is not necessarily true and future developments 



