108 FOREST TREES. 
well understood where it is successfully grown. It is 
introduced to invite attention to the valuable qualities 
of its wood. 
In rich bottom lands in Texas and Arkansas, the 
Osage Orange grows to the -height of sixty feet. 
Probably it may never attain that size in more north- 
ern climates, but it will become large enough to be 
of great value. The wood is very hard, strong, 
elastic, and fine grained, and is nearly or quite incor- 
ruptible. I have been assured by persons who have 
resided where it is native, that, though it will waste 
away by the action of the weather, a rotten stick is 
never met with. It is said to be eminently fitted for 
the construction of carriage wheels, as when well- 
seasoned, it will not swell and shrink with the changes 
of moisture and dryness. I have used small trees for 
grape stakes, and found them very durable, and it is 
doubtless one of the best kinds of timber for posts. 
The plants are sold at cheap rates, and an acre or two 
planted for timber would be a good investment on 
any farm. The trees should be thickly grown—two 
feet apart in the rows, and kept trimmed to a single 
straight stem. The disposition it shows to sucker 
from the stump renders it probable that, like the 
Chestnut, a plantation would reproduce itself when 
cut down. 
On account of its elasticity, the Osage Orange is 
used by the southern Indians for bows. The early 
French settlers called it Bois d’Are, Bow-wood—a 
better name, it would seem, than Osage Orange. 
