Ok, I see this listed as one of the best fire woods to burn, but what is it? I live in South Eastern NY and I have never heard of it. Does it go by another name? Thanks
In Arkansas and Texas it's called bois d'arc, pronounced bow-dark. I'm finding that the word "hedge" is not only more recognized, it's also easier to type.
You Missouri and Kansas guys may be onto something. Eliminating French words long before "freedom fries"!That's 'cause "hedge" is English, not French (essentially "wood bow").
They grow all summer like regular apples, falling late fall. If there's not much snow or wet, you can find them almost all winter on the ground.Mac in your experience what months of the year will you typically see Hedge start growing those apples to the time they are shed and can be found on the ground?
Mac in your experience what months of the year will you typically see Hedge start growing those apples to the time they are shed and can be found on the ground?
Mac in your experience what months of the year will you typically see Hedge start growing those apples to the time they are shed and can be found on the ground?
They grow all summer like regular apples, falling late fall. If there's not much snow or wet, you can find them almost all winter on the ground.
He cannot wait that long..
It's cut, split, stacked and ready to burn before the fruit even sprouts..:msp_smile:
Ok, all of which begs the question, did the term "hedge row" come from the tree species "Hedge", or the other way around?
...I mean, just in case I ever come across it on the bottom of a Snapple cap, a guy's gotta know.
Ok, all of which begs the question, did the term "hedge row" come from the tree species "Hedge", or the other way around?
In Arkansas and Texas it's called bois d'arc, pronounced bow-dark. I'm finding that the word "hedge" is not only more recognized, it's also easier to type.
Ok, all of which begs the question, did the term "hedge row" come from the tree species "Hedge", or the other way around?
...I mean, just in case I ever come across it on the bottom of a Snapple cap, a guy's gotta know.
There were “hedges” long before the “white” man discovered Osage-orange, or even before he discovered the Americas. Europe was crisscrossed with hedges going back centuries, much like our modern day fencerows. For many weeks after the WWII Normandy landing, Allied forces took the land “one-hedgerow-at-a-time.”
It was early French settlers that gave the tree the name Bois d’arc (meaning bow-wood) because they found it being used by native Indians for bow making (also tool handles). American explorers gave it the name Osage-orange because it was first encountered by them during interaction with the Osage Indian who supposedly traveled hundreds of miles from their lands to acquire it for bow making.
Because of its sharp thorns, before barbed-wire, it was planted in hedgerows by early American settlers to keep livestock/animals in (or out) of a specific area (such as around your vegetable garden to protect it). If the tree isn’t pruned it will send out dozens of shoots creating a dense “hedge” with “spikes”. Just a couple miles from me there is an old farmstead with one of these “hedges” around it… planted close together like that in this northern climate it doesn’t get much taller than 15 feet or so. It was also used extensively by FDR in Kansas and Nebraska during his 30’s “Shelterbelt” project.
The name “Hedge” is sort of a bastardization; because the large fruit grew on these “hedges” they got the nickname of “hedge apples”… eventually some areas of the country just called the whole tree “Hedge Apple”… and eventually that was just shortened to “Hedge”. Still, the appropriate American common name is “Osage-orange”.
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