Oh well... so much for the 1998 New Years Resolution. Michael Price was all
ready and just lying in wait for that one :-)) ["Well, *there's* a resolution
that didn't last long! Isn't it nice to get it out of the way early? '-)]
Good heavens! Wasn't 1:39am a bit past your bedtime?! '-) Oh well..., in my
mind it still feels like it's only October 1997. My checkbook still says it's
1993.

97-12-31, Michael Dossett writes:

<< Hey! I am from Missouri, NOT Missourah. They only say Missourah if they
live south of highway 44, or farty far as the case maybe. They also say
Worshington down there! Heck, they just like to stick an "r" or "ar" in
lots of words ( arnges instead of oranges, farks instead of forks, etc.)
About ironwood though... I learned that ironwood is another name for
American Hornbeam. Does anyone else know? Anyway, the osage orange is a
very important tree down there. The Missouri Conservationist, a free
magazine for residents of Missouri, published by the Department of
Conservation, ran an article on it, which said that it was the most
highly prized wood for indian bows, and that some bows had been found in
ruins of Blackfeet indian villages in northern Montana. That what I call
long distance trade! Osage orange is also good for baseball bats because
it is so strong. If anyone is interested in the article, I'll see if I
can remember which issue it was in.
>>

My, don't we have quite the Missour'eee' contingent here in the PacNW; Michael
Dossett and Bob Taylor :-). As a born native of the Northwest corner, half
way between Kansas City and Omaha, we usually drew the line along the Missouri
River between Kansas City and St. Louis; north-side, people generally say
'Missouri'; south-side, they say 'Missourah'. Interesting that you should
mention the "Missouri Conservationist" -- a fine and dependable publication,
one that has been received by my family back 'home' and is *still* addressed
to 'me' and for as long as I can remember from earliest childhood. One thing
I look forward to during return visits is a chance peruse all the piled up
back issues.

Actually, it's the Eastern Hophornbeam (_Ostrya virginiana_) which is more
correctly referred to as 'ironwood'. The American Hornbeam (_Carpinus
caroliniana_) is similar in that they are both in the same family, Betulaceae,
which includes the birches, alders, hornbeams, hophornbeams, and hazelnuts.

Osage Orange (_Maclura pomifera_) belongs to the mulberry family (Moraceae)
which includes the valuable fruit producers like breadfruit (_Arctocarpus_)
and some figs (_Ficus_), as well as a variety of other diverse things like
rubber trees (_Castilla_), and the herbaceous non-milky sap or latex producing
hop (_Humulus_) and hemp (_Cannabis_) = 'marijuana' -- didn't know that did
you? ...I should know; it grows 'wild' all over the farm! :-)). In Japan, the
mulberry leaves is what feeds the silkworm caterpillars. So it's a rather
fascinating and diverse family. Also, I must point out; I am *not* the
botanical whiz I may sound like here -- I just pulled all this out of my handy
dandy simple 'Golden Guide' to the "Trees of North America" :-)) This is what
I love most about this message board forum; the mental stimulation which I
find so addicting! Subjects posted on this forum are almost constantly making
me go off and look stuff up and relearn things that I've forgotten, plus
spending a lot of time sifting through the dictionary.

As for the Osage Orange (locally referred to as 'hedgeapples'); this is one
which I grew up with, for better and for worse. Those hedge rows of Osage
Orange provide excellent wind breaks and great haven and habitat for birds. In
the winter, the impenetrable hedge rows are often filled with flocks of
Harris's Sparrows, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Slate-colored Juncos amongst an
assortment of others. The wood is often used for fence posts. Some fence
lines and posts have been around for over a century, worn and weathered and
over time often become adorned with a beautiful orange colored lichen.

As a kid back then in the '50's and early '60's, it was a routine chore and
seemingly never ending task in addition to sweaty dirty awful task of tossing
hay bales, to be out on the tractor and wrapping a chain round those pesky
thorny 'hedgeapples' which strayed out in the pastures and yank 'em out of the
ground. And yes too -- I remember it well, the harmless 'hedgeapple' wars and
baseball games that all rural kids growing up there used to play ...and still
do I guess. There are a lot of great things that can be said about the clean
healthy innocence of childhood in rural America.

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)