Hedge. The oranges are used for decorative knick knacks. They wont readily degrade unless you bust them open. But then you better make sure the seeds fully decompose in your pile because they are a suckering tree that would be hard to get rid of organically... the wood is very hard, burns real hot, sometimes too hot... It was planted commonly as a natural fence line before barb wire became popular, so its not uncommon to find remnants of the old hedges along fields in ag areas.

Let me first say, I love these trees. Yes, they use to be abundant when the area was primarily agricultural. Now with the spreading suburbia, they are quickly disappearing. In part I'm at fault because I cut down a 1/2 mile hedgerow that was slated to for a new subdivision. One tree was over 4' wide. If you're going to use it for firewood, split it as soon as you cut it and never use it in a fireplace. Actually it can burn too hot even for an unlined cast iron stove. Dangerous wood to burn as it is a "sparkling" wood that will spit out embers. LOTS of ash but NOTHING burns as long or as hot other than coal itself. Many bird varieties were in the hedgerow including blue birds, indigo buntings, cardinals, hawks, owls, and even raccoons, possum, but never saw a squirrel! Hedge rows should be protected! They are an amazing wildlife habitant. Sorry to have cut this one down but otherwise they would have bulldozed it and just burnt it in the field. Remarkable wood. Peal off the bark and it will last 100yrs. Farmers made fence posting out of it. Not a great wood to work with as far as furniture or the like. Extremely hard after drying. I've cut old fence posts and had sparks flying while cutting. Full chisel chain works best for cutting this wood when green.

Don't go watching any movies like "Arachnophobia" before you go to bed! :--) Rabidosa only means they are vicious (to other bugs) like wolves are to their prey. They cannot carry rabies, as that is a disease of the central nervous system of mammals & spiders are not mammals. They do not care about you either--they are only there because that part of your house mimics the kind of environment they naturally live in. Cool & maybe damp, and dark places to hide, like your dust ruffle. You must also have insects in your house they like to eat (spiders aren't stupid--they live in places where there is prey to eat). You are not prey to them---they will only bite you if they think you are trying to kill them. People get bitten by spiders such as these when they put on jackets the spider has been hiding in, stick their hands in places the spider has been hiding in, etc. The spider thinks you are a predator trying to grab it & does the same thing you would do if a giant tried to grab you--bite. The big ones in the fall have grown since the spring.They grew because they were eating bugs they found in your house. I would try to seal the house as much as I could from whatever is attracting them & their meals---get good masonry sealer (check out the UGL Drilock website) & seal where the basement wall meets the floor and any holes or cracks, caulk & put weatherstripping in windows & doors,if your basement walls & floors are bare concrete, paint them with UGL Drilock or a similar dampness preventer. Put in a dehumidifier. Make the place more like Mars from a spider's point of view---dry & desert, ie no food. Sealing up cracks will also help with your heat bill.

I am an animal lover and nature freak. The type of person who will go up to a spider and watch/ study it then leave it be (providing it's not on or in danger of getting into my bed). They are really interesting to me. They still are but... I just moved into a new apartment and things have changed. The spiders started appearing in late June. They would be in the bathroom and tub in the morning trying to climb out. Then the exterminator came to spray the complex and informed me that BROWN RECLUSE SPIDERS are prevalent in this part of Kansas. And, that even though I don't see them probably still there. Well, since the extermination my spiders have increased more than 10 fold. Instead of one spider in the bathroom sink every couple of days there are now 3-8 spiders every day (THAT I SEE) and they are in every room (I have a small apartment). There are at least five seperate species, the biggest of which I am 95% sure is the brown recluse, and I see 1 to 2 of these every day. It's starting to give me "issues." Where as they didn't bother me before, I now jump when I see them. I avoid my closets, I shake out everything, and I just freakout at tiny things. I used to live in a state and area that was extremely high in black and brown widows. They didn't bother me at all. At least they are distinctive from a distance and for the most part they just stay in their webs. They don't come out at night to hunt. One of the main issues is that I have never lived in an area that is proned to brown recluse before. So I am not adept at identifying them. The fact that they look like any ordinary little brown spider until you get up close enough to examin for the fiddle shape just sucks. And all my other spiders... look just like little brown spiders to!!!! The even scarrier thing is that to have so many spiders... I have to have an amazingly huge bug population. I have only seen two bugs, period, in the apartment. So, the fact that I have only seen two bugs in what has to be a huge population... gotta mean that the spider population has to be much larger than what I see. Unless they're eating each other.. in which case, the population whould still have to be super huge cause there still enough to sustain the population and mate. While haveing me kill 3-8 everyday.