The celebration is over, and Indianola is not forgotten. However, there are many things in history to remember. One of the more interesting points to ponder over time is the evolution of certain things. If one is old enough they might remember times like the 1930’s. Those were the years of the depression and hot winds. One might remember the dust bowl stories, especially in the upper plains areas. Given the persistent drought we are in those times may be coming back.
That is related to what we are going to explore. Many of you may know of the Bodark tree or as they called it over in Louisiana the Bois D’arc tree. It has a fancy scientific name that is too hard to spell. Some called it a Hedge Apple. The most common name is the Osage Orange. That Tree is native to the Red River region up along the Texas, Oklahoma border. The Osage Indians probably didn’t plant it but they recognized its value as a wood to make bows and clubs. The Comanche Indians also used it for those purposes. They may even have used it in the raid on Lynnville, who knows.
It was also used to make hedge rows for fences. The tree has thorns. That makes it a good fence. In fact the tree was planted close together and trimmed to make it bushy. Old timers said it was horse high, bull strong and hog tight. So high a horse couldn’t jump it, so strong a bull couldn’t push through and so tight a hog couldn’t squeeze through. Not many of today’s fences can make that claim.
FDR used it in his “Great Plains Shelterbelt WPA Project”. They planted over 200 million trees to make over 18,000 mile’s of windbreaks. No wonder it is one of the most often planted trees in the USA.
Barbed wire had been invented. Some think it was a copy of the thorns in the Bos D’ark trees. It might stop bulls or horses but it is not a windbreak. The only thing between here and the North Pole are barbed wire fences between here and there and they don’t stop “Northers”. Even so, barbed wire has mostly replaced the hedge fences.
That didn’t stop the use of the trees. They are in demand because they make the best fence posts. Even termites are not successful in eating dried Osage Orange posts. It must hurt their teeth. Might be we should make houses out of it. However, when dried it is hard to cut or saw.
They say the “apples” it makes repel spiders and other insects. If you had one in your hand and saw a spider, chances are you could squash the spider. I guess that doesn’t count.
Even Lewis and Clark ran into uses for the tree. It is just plain useful. The point is that as times change the uses have changed and probably will continue.
