14 Forest Club Annual 



fruit with its milky juice was thought to be very distasteful to 

 all animals if not actually injurious. During three years of 

 investigation, Professor F. J. Phillips of the Forestry Department 

 of the University of Nebraska found that occasionally during a 

 dry fall, the fruit would dry up sufficiently to be floated by 

 water. He found that on rolling land, the fruits would roll 

 down the slopes a distance of from five to forty feet, when they 

 fell from the parent tree. They would undoubtedly be trans- 

 ported a much greater distance by this method if the slope was 

 long and fairly steep. 



Dr. Sargent in his "Sylva of North America" states that 

 the fruit falls to the ground and either disintegrates or is eaten 

 by horses and cattle. Dr. Trelease of Missouri Botanical Garden 

 substantiates the eating of the fruit by cattle. There is no 

 doubt but that the fruits will decompose, but thus far, the 

 writer from his own observation and the observations of the 

 experiment station botanists located in the region where Osage 

 orange is grown, has been unable to substantiate the eating of 

 the fruit by horses and cattle. Apparently, the prevailing 

 theory regarding the dissemination of this species is that run- 

 ning water and gravity are the most active agents. After the 

 fruits are decomposed, the seeds are exposed and unless eaten 

 by birds and rodents may be transported a considerable dis- 

 tance by running water. 



For several years the writer has noticed red squirrels, Sciurus 

 rufiventer, feeding on the seeds of this fruit, during the late 

 fall and winter. As far as has been determined, they begin 

 feeding on this fruit when other food, such as corn and walnuts, 

 becomes scarce. As the accompanying cuts will show, the fruit 

 is torn up into small bits; the seeds are then picked out and 

 eaten. A count was made to determine the percent of seeds per 

 fruit which the squirrels had eaten. In no case did this run 

 less than ninety percent of the total number and frequently as 

 high as ninety-six or ninety-eight percent. They apparently 

 do this only when the fruits are frozen, thus enabling them to 

 secure the seeds without getting much of the distasteful fleshy 

 portion. 



Frequently the squirrels tear up all but a small portion of 

 the fruit and then attempt to carry this portion away. This 

 is well illustrated by the large piece of fruit shown in Plate I. 

 Occasionally they drop this after having carried it a distance 

 varying from one hundred feet to a quarter of a mile. By this 

 means Osage orange may be widely distributed. 



