Our Hedge Postyard

Osage orange is a unique tree with a remarkable history. No other tree in central North America has had such a long and close relationship with humans - both Native Americans and settlers. Whether it is known locally as Osage orange, mock orange, Osage apple, hedge, hedge apple, naranjo chino, bois d'arc, bodark or bow wood, it is the same distinctive tree.

The wood of the Osage-orange is golden yellow or bright orange when first cut, but turns brown on exposure. The wood is dense, heavy, tough, and durable. It also shrinks or swells very little compared to the wood of other trees. The wood is used for fence posts, insulator pins, treenails, furniture, and archery bows. In fact, many archers consider the wood of the Osage-orange to be the world's finest wood for bows.

Osage-orange has been planted in great numbers, first as a field hedge, before barbed wire became available, secondly as a windbreak and component of shelterbelts, and thirdly to stabilize soils and control erosion.

The single-row field hedge proved to be a valuable windbreak on the prairie; evidence of this was the raised ground level under 15-year-old hedges, caused by accumulation of windborne soil material. Hedges around every quarter-section were common, especially in areas of deep sand. These hedges were a source of durable posts. Prairie farmers customarily clearcut hedges on a 20 to 30 year cycle, obtaining about 4,000 fence posts per mile of single-row hedge.