HAPPY NWE YEAR

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> From: Robert Taylor <taylorrt at foxinternet.net>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Birds and wood...
> Date: Wednesday, December 31, 1997 8:20 PM
>
> Hi Bill, Also Mike Price and others -- well quite a group of comments
> about Osage Orange. After, I dropped my comments and went and tried to
> find my books without success but did find Petersen's "Western Trees"
guide
> and it dealt with OO! The Remarks section said, "Once native in n.
Texas,
> se Oklahoma and nearby Ark., home of the Osage indians, this species was
> widely planted for living fences before the invention of barbed wire.
> Because of its use in making bows, the French name bois d'arc
(colloquilly
> "bodarc," "bodock") is still heard. Bark yields tannin; boiled wood
chips
> yield yellow dye. William Maclure was an American geologist who lived
from
> 1763 to 1840."
>
> Osage Orange is Maclura pomifera does that equal Maclura's Fruit Tree??
> Don't know how I forgot about the thorns! The tree is climbable but
don't
> get out in the branches. Yes, little boys and big boys use the fruits
for
> baseball and war/throwing practice. Don't play it with a person with a
> good arm!
>
> OO is also the foodplant for a moth of the Shingidae family (Isogramma
> hageni) that has had a range extension due to the planting/farming of OO.
>
> It seems that walnut and hickory which grow in the same area have similar
> chemicals released into the soil to inhibit brush/grass growth.
>
> (Mike -- I am familair with quince and it is not the same thing. If I'm
> not mistaken WHL was (is?) a researcher for Weyerhaeuser and can probably
> comment on it. I think of it as a garden shrub.)
> ----------
> > From: William H. Lawrence <whl at Localaccess.com>
> > To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> > Subject: Re: Birds and wood...
> > Date: Wednesday, December 31, 1997 6:22 PM
> >
> > At 05:23 PM 12/31/97 -0800, you wrote:
> > >Interesting! Because I spent a few years in Missouri (Missourah --
> > >according to those folks back there!) and a fair number of fence lines
> are
> > >planted with Osage orange or, as they call it -- hedge apple.
> >
> > Osage Orange wood is highly figure wood--used for bows -- tool handles
as
> > reported.
> >
> > However. The practice of maintaining Osage hedge rows between fields
> fell
> > into disfavor with intensives farming practices. As the rooting zone of
> OO
> > extended into the field the zone of poor crop development widened. OO
is
> > allelopathic its roots release toxic growth substances that kill other
> > plants. Neat way to capture all the soil fertility. Certain grasses
> also
> > have developed this combative technique keep from being shaded out by
> taller
> > vegetative. Fox squirrels fed on the fruit and help disperse OO in
the
> > midwest. Small boys would have wars with fruits as well even grown
boys.
> > It hurts to be hit with a full size green fruit. Black Locust makes
good
> > fench post now. Bill