# Osage Orange



## marknga

Saw something on another thread about Indians using an Osage Orange Bow and it made me think about the Osage Orange Tree up at the EIEIO in Franklin County. How many of ya"ll have ever seen an Osage Orange? It is a neat looking old tree and the oranges are just about the weirdest thing you will ever see. I will try and find some pics of the one at my parents. Suppose to be some tuff wood. Any information or facts would be appreciated.

Mark


----------



## frankwright

The Osage Orange trees are highly prized by the traditional bow makers. One big tree will produce a lot of bows and laminations to make others. It does have a strange fruit. Some people call them Horse apples or hedge apples and a bunch of other names.

This site has a few pictures and some interesting facts:http://www.osageorange.com/


----------



## Vernon Holt

was once a common tree in N. Ga.  Had many a battle with the "hedge apples"  when growing up. They were softball size and carried quite a wallop.  They normally grew along old fence lines, terraces, and edges of abandoned fields.

They were most commonly used for fence post material as the heartwood is quite decay resistent.  In general the tree is limby and rather crooked.  From this, one can see that you must do a great deal of searching to find a section of the tree satisfactory for making a bow.

The tree is rarely seen in Georgia today.  Have never encountered an explanation as to why the tree has virtually disappeared.  I will offer my own theory.  The tree always being an open grown tree (non-forest) indicates that the tree requires full sunlight and does not compete well with other trees under forested conditions.  After "King Cotton" passed, abandoned fields seeded in with Loblolly Pine.  This fast growing tree overtook the Osage Orange and over time shaded out the shade intolerant tree.

Nothing will eat the fruit of this tree that I am aware of.  They will lie on the ground until they rot.  In other parts of the country the tree was called "bow darc".

Vernon


----------



## leo

*Bo-dark*

http://users.ev1.net/~rmthomps/knap/jm1999.html

or "Bois 'darc" trees with their "horse apples" were common in Eastern Texas where I grew up, and they made great fence post, but the nailing (stapling) had to be done while they were fresh (soft and milky sap) once they hardened there was no nailing into them.
Another local name for them were "ironwood" trees


----------



## No. GA. Mt. Man

I thought I was as country as anyone but I never heard of them.


----------



## marknga

Thanks for the info and links! I knew that I would learn something here on Woody's! I will try to find some pics, know I have some on the computer somewhere.
The tree at my mom and dads is very tall, twisted and just looks like it has been there forever. It is at the old homeplace site and when the "oranges" or "hedgeapples" are falling it sounds like a war going on. If any of you have never seen one of these "fruit" They are green softball size, pimply, kinda look like a brain and HEAVY. Mr Holt I can't imagine having a hedgeapple fight! Wallup? Shoot I reckon knock you out. I had heard that the fruit acts as a insect repellent, especially cockroaches, if you place them around your house. Have never seen anything eat the fruit, they just end up rotting on the ground.
Again thanks for replies.

Mark


----------



## Etter1

I've seen 4 or 5 of them down on the oconee river through redlands wma.


----------



## Al33

We always referred to them as Bodark trees in Texas.

Mr. Vernon, there was an old tree on the edge of a field I would stalk to as a kid while hunting. As long as there was fruit in the tree, the squirels would surely be as well. They love eating the horse apples as we called them. Killed many of squirrels out of that tree. 

You are correct about the wollup.    A hit in the back from one can knock your breath out. The good side of the coin was that they could not be thrown very fast due their size and weight and a little agility would keep you out of harms way.


----------



## Vernon Holt

Guess we didn't have any squirrels bold enough to venture to the Bodark trees on our place.  My Marlin 22 had thrown fear into them, not to mention the fact that I kept their ranks pretty thin.

My rationale for saying that nothing would eat them was  based on two factors.  I have tasted the milky sap contained in the fresh fruit and found it to be very bitter and distasteful.  This coupled with the fact that they would lay on the ground until they rotted.

With those Texas squirrels it was either hedgeapples or cactus.  They choose hedgeapples.

Vernon


----------



## Al33

Vernon Holt said:
			
		

> With those Texas squirrels it was either hedgeapples or cactus.  They choose hedgeapples.
> 
> Vernon


   Prolly right about that sir.

Interestingly enough, it was the core of the apple they seemed to like. The fiber looking pieces that make up the fruit could be found all over the ground underneath the tree.


----------



## Nicodemus

The wood does make fine bows and atlatls. There might be a harder and more dense wood in N. America but I don`t know it. I have several horse apples that I`m fixin` to try to sprout.


----------



## blacksnow

This is also a prized wood for making duck calls with, beautiful wood. This is Burnt Bois D'Arc here if I can get the picture to work.


----------



## QuakerBoy

We have them up here also.  As kids we called em "monkey balls".  I recall that when you cut the "fruit" open that the inside was also very sticky.  As scouts we always tried to tell the youner ones to rub them on their skin as an insect repellent.  Took some time to wash off that sticky mess once it dried


----------



## Uncle Joe

We still have several planted fencerows of them on our camp in Ohio, the old man that used to own the next farm said he heard from his grandpa that the early Brittish settlers to the area brought them to grow for use as bows an fence posts, and if planted correctly will create a fence to keep cattle in on their own. We even found a dead deer in the middle of the one row thats up there. The fruit is supposed to be a great insect repelant.
I read an article a while back that claimed Robin Hoods bow was made of osage orange.


----------



## 4wheeling4life

Marknga be careful out around that old orange tree. I am sure your dad had warned you about the old wells around those parts.


----------



## Mrbowdeadly

Seem to be very common in Illinois.  


MBD


----------



## marknga

Yeah 4W4L, he has told me about them. We were just up there New Years Weekend and my wife and I went and looked at the OLD Osage Orange Tree. That is one neat ol tree............I wonder how old it is. I need to get a picture of it and post on here.

Mark


----------



## 4wheeling4life

Well I know it was around before old wt bought his land. I have been knowing of that old tree for at least 15-20 yrs. Long before those pines were cut and replanted.


----------



## deerhuntingdawg

I have a hunting tape where Brad Harris is bowhunting over them in Texas. He said deer will eat them late in the season.  He called them hedgeapples. It was one of them old Lohman(sp) Outdoor hunting tapes.


----------



## Buckbuster

I think that must be what I saw when I was hunting in Illinois. They were growing along a fence row and the orange size balls were all over the ground. First time I ever saw them was up there.


----------



## boneboy96

I've turned some Osage orange into pens on my lathe...makes one heck of a mess but comes out really nice when finished...takes a while to get it off your hands though...stains pretty good!


----------



## Bowyer29

I'm working on a hickory backed osage recurve for my brother right now. When I lived in Tennesse, we hunted the trees late season because the deer would stomp on them and eat the middle.


----------



## notnksnemor

Very common in Kansas. The settlers planted them in rows along property boundaries, when mature the trees would grow together, along with the thorns, they made a good livestock fence and wind break. In the early 1900's a lot of them were cut down to open land up. This helped lead to the dust bowl days, No wind breaks. 
When dry, it's so hard sparks will actually fly off a chainsaw blade.

Hope this helps!!!


----------



## jfinch

If you are ever in Franklin, TN and want to see a very large specimen.  Go visit the Carnton House.  There is a civil war cemetary there and the old plantation house is the site of the field hospital during the battle of Franklin.  I did not have a tape with me but I would have guessed it to be close to 6 ft DBH.   That area of TN is covered up with them.  A storm blew one down in my mother in laws yard about 8 years ago I cut it up for her and took the trunk home and had my dad saw it into lumber.  Dad is using it to make guide pins for his sawmill.  I have turned a little of it recently to make strikers for turkey calls.  I have some more I hope to turn some pott calls from.


----------



## Confederate_Jay

*Osage orange trees*

I hunt every year for a few days in December with an older gentleman in Columbus Mississippi. These trees are all over the place out there. They call them "bodock" (Bois d' arc) or ironwood trees, and the fruit, horseapples. My buddy John said the wood is so hard it is only good for fence posts and that one post will wear out 2 or 3 holes. 

He also said it will ruin a chainsaw blade.

I  have seen a block of this wood when cut and sanded smooth, put on a buffing  wheel and buffed to deep gold color almost like you'd see on a tigers eye stone.  It shone like it had a heavy coat of varnish when in fact it was just the wood.


----------



## MISSING RIDGE

*seed?*

I would like to get some seed of this tree. 
Makes excellent knife handles-purdy too. I have heard that this wood was also used for ship propellers. A friend of mine found a tree on Pettit creek in Bartow county-he is a master blade smith so down came the tree-he gave me some of it several years ago. I put it in a box of wood shavings to dry it out and prevent checking-used most of it for carving knife blades-still have a few sections about 8" in diameter. Some more hard wood when dried out will make a band saw burn its way thru.


----------



## Killdee

Theres one next to an old barn on my lease in Troup co.I remember another one on the rd between cedartown and Cartersville,on a fence line.


----------



## discounthunter

i picked up a couple iron wood boards when i was redoing my kitchen in a "barnwood"motif .my planer simply refuses to touch these things.


----------



## Vernon Holt

If you bought it as Ironwood then it may or may not be Osage Orange.  There are two or three different species of tree referred to as "Ironwood".  Ostrya virgiana and Carpinus virginiana are two.  There is at least one other that I have forgotten.

Osage Orange is a specialized wood due to its color and figure of grain, as well as strength.  It is virtually always identified by it's true name


----------



## CAL

Very interesting post Mr.Vernon to say the least.I wish I knew where to get a little of that wood.Sounds interesting!


----------



## Nicodemus

Mr. Vernon, I believe what we used to call ironwood as younguns is either hornbeam or hop hornbeam. Would that be the tree you are referin` too? It usually grew down in the river floodplain or in damp creekbottoms.


----------



## discounthunter

ive still got 4 pieces about 3"wide,3ft long 1/2 thick.


----------



## Vernon Holt

Ten four Nick.  What is normally called Ironwood is American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana).  The bark is smooth, and the trunk is irregularly shaped as opposed to being round as are most trees.

Hophornbeam has leaves similar to above, but the trunk is more nearly rounded, with bark that is scaley.  It is Ostrya virginana.

Both are small bottomland trees that typically grow in the understory.  Neither are taken to have commercial value.

The fruit of the Hophornbeam closely resembles Hops, which is an ingredient in beer making.

The wood of both trees is very dense and heavy, thus the "iron wood".


----------



## FX Jenkins

Osage grows all over the place her in VA, and north Ga soil is good for sprouts from the apples...I don't think I can ship em  (postal regs?) but if anyone is interested in some, Id be happy to leave some with my folks in Ellijay and you can go by and pick em up...

PS..if you mess with my mom & pop, I'll mess you up..real bad


----------



## Nitro

*Green Bois D Arc.....*

I am very interested in buying any naturally green Osage Orange or "BoisDArc" .......

We want to use it for building Duck calls. 

The naturally occurring green color is caused by the absorption of minerals through the buried wood. This typically takes 50-60 years of being buried in the ground.

Paying top dollar if anyone has some.....


----------



## Vernon Holt

FX:  When you make a trip to Ellijay, if it is convenient, I would like very much to have just one "hedgeapple".  This would provide enough seeds to get a good start.

I am the only Vernon Holt in the phone directory.  I would be happy to pick up and pay you for the bother.  Many thanks.


----------



## FX Jenkins

Vernon,
  I'll be down over July 4th holidays...will give you a call then.  
FX


----------



## FX Jenkins

What am I thinking, these things don't fruit until the fall.  

Vernon,
  You have a PM..

FX


----------



## 69camaro

*...*

I ran across one at lake Russell wma a few years ago, close to the dove fields.  It was the only one I have seen other than in books.


----------



## Hawkeye

I have made hundreds of osage longbows and static bows, it is the best wood around, if you osage trees you can make some xtra dollars by cutting staves and selling them, but try to pick staves with few or no knots on them , they bring a better price.

Check on ebay there are guys that sel them all the time, check under "archery bow staves"


----------



## OkieHunter

Osage Orange trees are thicker than fleas in my area of Oklahoma. If you plan on making a bow from one be sure to get one with the bark as straight as possible, then let it cure, after removing the bark then you can cut a bow blank from it. It makes a grat looking bow.


----------



## Slingblade

I saw a page on the net that had a feller that made furniture out of Osage and I couldn't believe what he was asking for some of that stuff.  He had a porch swing listed for over $3,000.00...wonder if he ever sold it?  I believe the site was Hedgeapple.com


----------



## Dixiesimpleman32

There is a big osage tree in jonesboro at the confederate cemetery every year couple hundred oranges some of them the size of cantelopes lay on the ground and rot.Its the only one i have every seen.


----------



## Tinwindow

A friend had a osage tree removed from his back yard in Albany Ga. this past summer. Paid $600 to have it removed. Tree was huge. Forresters that looked at tree said it was largest they ever seen. Dropped up to 100 oranges a day. Wish I new wood had a value before they chopped it down.


----------



## Dash

Lots of them on my property in Sumter Co. Alabama.  Always heard them called Osage Orange or Horseapple.  The thorns can puncture tires which is the main reason I use Slime tire sealant in my ATV tires.  I've never seen deer eat the fruit, but Horses will.  Perhaps that’s the reason for the name horseapple.


----------



## Hawkeye

This is what an osage self longbow loks like ,including the lumps which are natural to the wood.


----------



## OkieHunter

We have them all over NE Oklahoma and southern kansas. If you want tio cut one for making a bow be sure to cut one with the straightest grain/Bark pattern you can find, they make the best bow blanks.


----------



## ol mike

I was born and reared in sw ohio and there were alot of them on my grandpa's farm.
If there is a better firewood i'd have to see it to believe it.
When i left Ga. in 04 i moved to ohio to spend time w/my grandpa when my granny past away.
Anyway i rented a small house w/a woodstove fireplace the owner told me some of the pile of wood was a big old hedgeapple tree they cut down.
All i can say is -wow- talk about a wood that is hot and long lasting!
I had a fire going and the forecast said it was going to get unseasonably warm ,well before bed i laid a big old twisted knotty piece of hedgeapple in the back of the stove.Got up the next morning and opened the damper and away she went burning good.Well it got warm as forecasted so i cut the damper completely off -that evening i noticed heat still coming off the stove and left the backdoor open a little.
Well to cut to the chase that big log burned for two full days w/the damper off and i built a fire off of it after that length of time!
I told my uncle it was nuclear firewood -he grinned and winked and said there ain't nothing like hedgeapple!--Mike


----------



## Vernon Holt

The heating quality of any particular variety of wood is a function of its weight.  The heavier the wood is, the greater the BTU's the wood will deliver.

This explains why pine and yellow poplar are not much in demand as fuel wood.

I have never burned any Osage Orange, but I know it to be a dense and heavy wood.  This would explain why it burns slowly and produces a great deal of heat.

Since it is a rare tree over most of this state, few of us would have realized its value as fuel wood.  Thanks for passing this along.


----------



## ol mike

Hey Vernon 

I told my brother-in-law about it and he said he's going to start planting them every chance he gets.He's mid 20's.


----------



## Vernon Holt

Tell your brother-law that he would do well to prune carefully with the idea of growing Bow Staves for sale and use the cull wood for fuel.

There is a healthy demand for Bow Staves.


----------



## Killdee

I belive theres 1 on the n bound side of 1-75 here in Marietta,I can see them oranges from the road.Look between allgood rd overpas and canton rd overpass where they been clearing.If not I can likely pick up a few from the tree at deer camp.I just read where this wood is the hottest btu producer of any wood.


----------



## OkieHunter

They are thicker than ticks on a fat hound in southern kansas and Northern Oklahoma


----------



## Kawaliga

An Osage tree fit to make bows must be straight and "clear" (no limbs) and as few thorns growing from the trunk as possible. A tree of this configuration would most likely be found growing in a fence row among numerous other trees in a semi shady environment. The best Osage bow wood has thick "late wood" growth rings as opposed to "early wood" or sapwood growth rings. The specific gravity of Osage is up around .85 hence it's hardness. One other bow wood common in Georgia that is nearly as good as osage is persimmon, with a specific gravity of .75 Persimmon makes an excellent bow that resists taking a set.Anyone cutting a tree to make bows should immediately smear Elmers glue liberally on both ends of the log to prevent "Checking" or cracking on the outside of the log. The log should then be split and quartered with wedges as soon as possible. Osage bark should be left on each bow stave for a full year, giving the stave time to "cure".Persimmon bark can be removed as soon as the log is quartered. It is a lot easier to remove when the stave is still "green". Hope this drivel helps someone.


----------



## Dixiesimpleman32

you can see the horseapples on the trees now if you want one for seed it wont be long till they fall.


----------



## marknga

I'll see if I can get ol Wornout Trails to get a picture.

The Osage Orange tree on his property is HUGE, it will drop hundreds of those oranges. 

Mark


----------



## Wornout Trails

*No Fruit on tree?*

After an email from Marknga, I went up to the old home place on the EIEIO Farm with the camera to get some pictures of the "Osage Orange".  No fruit this year, we had a late frost here that may or may not have something to do with it the tree not having any fruit this year.

See the two pictures below of the tree and trunk of the tree up close.  I can tell you for sure you can not hardly saw threw a limb with a bow saw.  It is some kind of tough stuff for sure..........    more later.          W.T.


----------



## Hawkeye

Does this tree look like osage ?


----------



## Fletch_W

Sounds like it would make a nice guitar.


----------



## newmoon

Here is a set of turkey calls I recently made with mud cured osage. It came from arkansas and was as solid as the airdried stuff I have in my sho
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





p.   alan


----------



## Nitro

Gorgeous calls Alan. I still plan to come see you soon.

AG


----------



## Al33

The following is information (in blue) I gathered from several sources and used to help me plant some seeds this past Spring.

tetgunner, thanks for sharing the info about the persimmon and making staves. Good stuff.

newmoon, those calls are awesome! They ooze with class.

As far as using seed for your osage seedlings, the  method of soaking the fruit in a bucket all winter will work very well. Most hardwood seeds (and lots of other seeds) need to be scarified (the breaking of the seed coat) and stratified (breaking their dormancy). Stratification is accomplished by chilling the seed at or below 40degrees (F) for 40 to 60 days, in most cases. This will bring the seed out of a dormancy that nature has provided to insure their survival. This "chilling" can be done by soaking the fruit (with seed) in a bucket over the winter. Scarification can be accomplished by mechanical or chemical means. 
Mechanically this can be done by cracking the hard seed coat or cutting through it with a file or other abrasive means. Chemically this can be done by soaking the seed in an acid solution (sulphuric) or by allowing the natural acids in the soil to do it for you. By planting the seed in the early spring, scarification is achieved by the soil acids reacting with the hard seed coating between the time of planting and germination. 
By transplanting the seedlings in pots or a controlled seed beds you can get the seedlings to a good healthy state (a year or 2) before transplanting them out on their own. This will insure a better survival rate.
If you have seed that has been removed from the fruit, place them in a baggy with moist sand (not wet) and put them in your refrigerator until early spring. This will stratify (break dormancy) the seed and you can let the soil scarify them (break the seed coat)while they wait to germinate in the ground.

When I was in Ohio last summer, I brought home some osage fruit. Left them out all winter in 5 gallon pail with drain holes about 1" off the bottom. This kept some water in pail. This spring planted the mush and got over 100 started plants. Just a fun experiment. I know I won't be around to see these trees but fun seeing them grow knowing what they are...Doc

I started seedlings from seed for several years also, planting the mush from rotting apples worked the best. I found if you pot up the seedlings and let them grow for a couple of years you can tell which ones will be straight and which will be typical dogleg osage.

You do need to tend to your hedgerow as they grow. Keep the trunks clean. Plant some near a creek bed where they need to fight for sunlight too. They grow pretty straight when they gotta reach straight up for sunlight. Future generations will think they found a magic stash when they happen upon it. 


Osage was used for hedges before the invention of barbed wire in the 1880s. Horse high, bull strong and hog thick were the makings of an Osage Hedge. It originates from the Red River valley in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas and is named after the Osage Tribe who made their home there. After the invention of barbed wire the trees were used for making fence posts or trees were planted to be used as living posts.

If you want them to grow try this:

Planting Hedge Trees - Old Timers told our friend Clark Knapp that they started Hedge Rows by dumping the Hedgeapples in a barrel, letting them sit over the winter allowing them to freeze and thaw until spring when they were soft. They then mashed them, added water and poured the slurry into a plowed furrow and cover about a inch or two. They kept the hedgeapples moist during the winter by drilling holes and letting about 2 inches of water stand in the bottom (if all the fruit is left submerged for extended length of time, they will not sprout). Mr Knapp is only 86 years old, and claims he is a few days away from being an Old Timer himself. I assume this method would be a good technique if one would want the hedge row to act as a fence.
Mr. Knapp knows his business. Picture at right was taken on his farm.
I tried this planting technique last spring and it works (over 300 seedlings in a 8 ft hedgerow), please click here for a complete description of my experiment.


----------



## Gadget

newmoon said:


> Here is a set of turkey calls I recently made with mud cured osage. It came from arkansas and was as solid as the airdried stuff I have in my sho
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> p.   alan




Looks great!


----------



## Dixiesimpleman32

the oranges are laying on the ground now saw several today.going try to plant me a couple.they are in the corner of the confederate cemetary in jonesboro if you want some.


----------



## Dixiesimpleman32

the oranges are now starting to fall.if you want a few go get um.there in the same place this year as last year im gonna try to get me some growing.


----------



## How2fish

The tree is rarely seen in Georgia today.  Have never encountered an explanation as to why the tree has virtually disappeared.  I will offer my own theory.  The tree always being an open grown tree (non-forest) indicates that the tree requires full sunlight and does not compete well with other trees under forested conditions.  After "King Cotton" passed, abandoned fields seeded in with Loblolly Pine.  This fast growing tree overtook the Osage Orange and over time shaded out the shade intolerant tree.

This is almost impossible for a theory..I understand the logic but we are talking about a tree prized by the Native Americans..which up to the invent of the wide spread felling of forests to make way for fields there were NO open spaces the entire eastern seaboard was for many miles inland covered in dense forest of 300 yr old hardwoods..I would have love to have seen that ..the tree could not have deveolped as a direct sun grower..there just wasn't much of that..


----------



## Vernon Holt

Vernon Holt said:
			
		

> "The tree is rarely seen in Georgia today. Have never encountered an explanation as to why the tree has virtually disappeared. I will offer my own theory. The tree always being an open grown tree (non-forest) indicates that the tree requires full sunlight and does not compete well with other trees under forested conditions. After "King Cotton" passed, abandoned fields seeded in with Loblolly Pine. This fast growing tree overtook the Osage Orange and over time shaded out the shade intolerant tree."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How2fish said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "*This is almost impossible for a theory..I understand the logic but we are talking about a tree prized by the Native Americans..which up to the invent of the wide spread felling of forests to make way for fields there were NO open spaces the entire eastern seaboard was for many miles inland covered in dense forest of 300 yr old hardwoods..I would have love to have seen that ..the tree could not have deveolped as a direct sun grower..there just wasn't much of that*"..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You call my theory "impossible" as to why Osage Orange has virtually disappeared in GA, but offer no theory of your own. What gives??
> 
> You overlook (or simply never knew) that Osage Orange was originally native to Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. It never occurred naturally in GA. The "eastern seaboard" had no Osage until it was introduced by settlers to the area after the late 1800's. By this time the Native Americans had been moved to Osage Orange country
> 
> If native Americans in GA used it as bow wood they either traded for the material, or they took a long hike to secure it. The Cherokees and Creeks of GA used hickory as their bow wood of choice.
> 
> The tree was widely planted all over the South and Mid-West as an ornamental, a shelterbelt (windbreak) tree, and as a living fence (hence the name "hedgeapple"). The species thrived in all of these applications, simply because they did not have to compete with other trees that were more aggressive and that would overtop and consequently shade them out .
> 
> You are correct in your statement that eastern N. America was initially covered with a vast hardwood forest (except for the pine belt along the lower piedmont and coastal plain). This explains why Osage Orange did not grow here. It simply could not thrive under the canopy of other trees that grow to great heights. Keep in mind that Osage is a small tree.
> 
> It grew on its native range simply because vast forests were lacking to non-existent. It grew in its native range because it was a "direct sun lover". It remained in its native range (until man moved it) simply because it disseminates its seed poorly. Remember the saying, "the acorn does not fall far from the tree".  It is about as non-invasive as a tree can possibly be.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


----------



## Dixiesimpleman32

Yall think if i put a fresh hedge apple in a bucket of potting soil it will sprout and grow?


----------



## ChiefOsceola

This thread just answered a question I'd had for 5+ years!!! 

Years back, my dad and I made a trip to Gettysburg Battlefield.  There is a house there that was there during the war.  It's pictured in many war era photos because of the cannonball holes in the house & barn and dead bodies scattered about.  In fact, the barn still has its distinct cannonball hole.  Anyhow, we got out to take a picture of the house and noticed this old tree on the corner of the property with these funky looking fruit.  I'm sure it's against park rules to deface the plants (not to mention that this tree was in someone's yard)...but since neither of us had never seen anything like it before, we took it.  We googled everything we could think of when we got home trying to figure out what it was.  No luck.  My dad still has the shriveled up "brainy" looking thing at his house...and thanks to this topic, we now know what it is!!  

Kudos!!!


----------



## NCHillbilly

How2fish said:


> which up to the invent of the wide spread felling of forests to make way for fields there were NO open spaces the entire eastern seaboard was for many miles inland covered in dense forest of 300 yr old hardwoods...



Actually, nearly all of the earliest European explorers describe large areas of the southeast as being open savannah-like country mixed with patches of forest. There are many remnant populations of disjunct prairie plant species in the southeast even today. Whether this was natural, or from hundreds or thousands of years of burning and land management by the Indians is anybody's guess. Even here in the Smokies there are "bald" mountains where no trees grow and they are covered with shrubs, grasses and forbs; and have been like that since the first settlers here over two hundred years ago described them. Vernon makes a good point-osage was never native east of the Texas/Arkansas region. Osage is nice wood and an interesting tree. I have a good-sized pile of osage bowstaves in my shed.


----------



## Woody's Janitor

We have a bunch of them out here in SW Oklahoma.


----------



## Resica

ChiefOsceola said:


> This thread just answered a question I'd had for 5+ years!!!
> 
> Years back, my dad and I made a trip to Gettysburg Battlefield.  There is a house there that was there during the war.  It's pictured in many war era photos because of the cannonball holes in the house & barn and dead bodies scattered about.  In fact, the barn still has its distinct cannonball hole.  Anyhow, we got out to take a picture of the house and noticed this old tree on the corner of the property with these funky looking fruit.  I'm sure it's against park rules to deface the plants (not to mention that this tree was in someone's yard)...but since neither of us had never seen anything like it before, we took it.  We googled everything we could think of when we got home trying to figure out what it was.  No luck.  My dad still has the shriveled up "brainy" looking thing at his house...and thanks to this topic, we now know what it is!!
> 
> Kudos!!!



Is this the barn?


----------



## ChiefOsceola

Yep...that's it Resica.  I think it's called the Trostle farm or something like that.  There are pics just after the battle or Gettysburg that have dead cattle and bodies everywhere...so it's a bit eerie to be able to take a picture of the same place nowadays.  The tree is in the corner of the yard right along the road.


----------



## MerkyWaters

This may have already been mentioned but these trees were introduced out west to help in wind breaks across the plains ( I recall reading that somewhere) due to its toughness!!


----------



## arcame

my grandma has three or four trees at her place in Monticello, might have to cut a limb off and make some knife handles.


----------



## Dixiesimpleman32

alot of them on the ground now in the same ol spot.if you want a few go get um.


----------



## nx95240

i have look in N ga. i would like to have some seed and plant .. i have a bow made out of one and it is really nice..


----------



## arcame

My grand mother has a couple on her farm down in Jasper co. really cool looking tree and some weird looking fruit. I also had a buddy of mine make a knife handle out of a limb off of a tree that he planted in 1962 at heis moms house, that was a beautiful lookin wood on a knife.


----------



## rjcruiser

NOTNKSNEMOR said:


> Very common in Kansas. The settlers planted them in rows along property boundaries, when mature the trees would grow together, along with the thorns, they made a good livestock fence and wind break. In the early 1900's a lot of them were cut down to open land up. This helped lead to the dust bowl days, No wind breaks.
> When dry, it's so hard sparks will actually fly off a chainsaw blade.
> 
> Hope this helps!!!



Just got back from a trip to KS and saw a ton of the "hedge apples" on the ground.  In talking with my dad about them, he told me a story about the hedge trees.

When my forefathers immigrated to KS from Germany, they planted rows of hedge trees.  When she was a little girl, my Great great grandmother was responsible for making sure the young sapplings got off to a good start and would hoe any weeds that got around the young sapplings.

When she was an old woman and my grandfather was farming the land, the hedge trees would rob the fields of nutrients and so they took down many of the trees.  It broke my great great grandmother's heart to see these trees that she worked so hard to plant get ripped out of the ground.

My dad also said that they'd use the wood for firewood in the winter.  Would burn long and hot because of how dense the wood was.

I thought it was a neat story.


----------



## BBQBOSS

I met a guy one time to sell a pistol I had sold here on the site and he had a basket full in the back of his truck and he gave me one.  I suggest not trying to eat one.  

They are mildly poisonous and can cause stomach pain.


----------



## Bitteroot

but they will keep roaches out of the house! My granny used to put em in a mayo jar lid and keep em in different areas around the kitchen and meat processing room.  She swore by em!.


----------



## Nicodemus

Bitteroot said:


> but they will keep roaches out of the house! My granny used to put em in a mayo jar lid and keep em in different areas around the kitchen and meat processing room.  She swore by em!.



I`ve heard that too, Greg.


----------



## marknga

Bitteroot said:


> but they will keep roaches out of the house! My granny used to put em in a mayo jar lid and keep em in different areas around the kitchen and meat processing room.  She swore by em!.



I've heard or read that before and that was the reason you'd find them growing around old homeplaces. I've come to believe that alot of the old wive's tales have truth to them. 
Those Osage Oranges are a weird looking fruit.


----------



## win280

Bitteroot said:


> but they will keep roaches out of the house! My granny used to put em in a mayo jar lid and keep em in different areas around the kitchen and meat processing room.  She swore by em!.



I use them in my hunting cabin.Keeps all kind of little critters outside.


----------

