Many types of seeds, osage included, need to be scarified and to stratify. Stratifying is breaking the seed dormancy that many types of seeds have. Usually a cool period(90 days at or below 40deg[F])and then the warming of spring. Scarifying is the breaking of the seed coat(hard shell). This can be done mechanically(hammer, rasp, etc) or chemically(sulfuric acid bath,Natural soil acids and moisture and in some cases passing through the gut of an animal). By making a slurry of horse apples and water, pouring them into a trough and letting the cold of winter and the warming of spring break it dormancy you let nature do the work for you. Pat