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To: TSchmereL

Hope they're planting Bois de Arc. That's also known as osage orange. Pioneers used to plant it on the prairies instead of fencing. It's almost too tough to cut and covered with thorns. It kept cattle in for generations.


4 posted on 05/28/2006 2:32:10 PM PDT by texaslil (and)
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To: texaslil

But can it keep out a Chevy Suburban?


5 posted on 05/28/2006 2:33:43 PM PDT by bnelson44 (Proud parent of a tanker! (Charlie Mike, son))
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To: texaslil

Osage Orange seedlings used to be sold from ads in farm magazines. It was claimed to be "horse high, bull strong, and goat tight". (Coyotes driving trucks were not foreseen back then).


12 posted on 05/28/2006 2:38:27 PM PDT by 19th LA Inf
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To: texaslil
not really thorny, but....

Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1880's, many thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting young Osage Orange trees closely together in a line. The saplings were aggressively pruned to promote bushy growth. "Horse high, bull strong and hog tight." Those were the criteria for a good hedge made with Osage Orange. Tall enough that a horse would not jump it, stout enough that a bull would not push through it and woven so tightly that even a hog could not find its way through! After barbed wire made hedge fences obsolete, the trees still found use as a source of unbeatable fence posts. The wood is strong and so dense that it will neither rot nor succumb to the attacks of termites or other insects for decades. The trees also found use as an effective component of windbreaks and shelterbelts.

16 posted on 05/28/2006 2:40:42 PM PDT by digger48
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