go to their foreign relations. The Osage orange is so
much used in the United States, and in this part of it, for hedges, on
account of its rapid growth and ornamental appearance, that we really
ought to know something about it. 'It is a beautiful low, spreading,
round-headed tree with the port and splendor of an orange tree. Its
oval, entire, polished leaves have the shining green of natives of
warmer regions, and its curiously-tesselated, succulent compound fruit
the size and golden color of an orange. It was first found in the
country of the Osage Indians, from whom it gets its name, and it has
since been cultivated in many parts of this country and in Europe. The
Osages belonged to the Sioux, or Dacotah, tribe of Indians, and their
home was in the south-western part of the old United States. The Osage
orange--a tree from thirty to forty feet high with leaves even more
bright and glossy than those of the ordinary orange--was first found
growing wild near one of their villages."

"But what a very high hedge it would make!" said Malcolm.

"Yes, if left to its natural growth, it would be a very absurd fence
indeed. But this is not the case; the branches spread out very widely,
and by cutting off the tops and trimming the remainder twice in a season
a very handsome thickset hedge is produced, with lustrous leaves and
sharp, straight thorns. Another name for this tree is yellow-wood, or
bow-wood, because the wood is of a bright-yellow color, and the grain is
so fine and elastic that the Southern Indians have been in the habit of
using it to make their bows. The experiment of feeding silkworms upon
the leaves has been tried, but it was not very successful."

"I suppose the worms didn't know that it belonged to the mulberry
family," said Clara, "and I don't see now why it does."

For reply, her governess read:

"'The sap of the young wood and of the leaves is _milky_ and contains a
large proportion of caoutchouc.'"

"Oh!" exclaimed Malcolm; "that sounds just like sneezing. What is it,
Miss Harson?"

"Something that you wear on your feet and over your shoulders in wet
weather; so now guess."

"Overshoes!" replied Clara, in a great hurry.

"How many of them do you wear over your shoulders at once?" asked her
brother. "And it must be a queer kind of sap that has overshoes in it.
Why couldn't you say 'India-rubber'?"

"And why couldn't _you_ say it before Clara put it into your head by
saying 'Overshoes?" asked Miss