PODS
Milkweed Helps Solve Fiber Problem HE common milkweed plant, for centuries regarded as a farm pest. is now being recognized as a potential source for such useful materials as stuffing for life belts and marine mattresses, heat and sound insulation, oil. rubber, wax, textiles, and paper-aU vital to war production. Most of this year's floss was harvested in Michigan where it had ~ gathered on a small scale the previous year. About two-thrrds of the crop was obtained from the sandy region in the immediate vicinity of Petoskey. Fanners ba~e been bri?-giJ.lg t~eir milkweed pods to buying centers set up m 11 counties 1U thiS area. Onion bags, in which ~o collect the pods, and complete instructions for picking were Issued to farmers. In addition, a campaign was undertaken in cooperation with the public schools of 50 Michigan counties and four counties in Ohio to encourage children of rural areas to part~cip~te in the light, easy work of collecting the pods. EnthuslastJc response on the part of teachers and children made possible a considerable harvest without recourse to labor needed for o.ther war work. This development of public school interest, applicable throughout the milkweed range extending from the Dakotas to Maine and southward, offers a pattern for the ex· pansion of next year's harvest effort. Floss is in the forefront as far as war production is concerned. To supplement collection of floss from wild growth, studies are under way to create conditions suitable for milkweed cultivation. Steps are also being taken to develop other milkweed products. Seed left over from this year's production of floss for instance will be available for processing into oil, which ca~ be used fo; much the same purposes as soybean oil. The .list of possible by·products is a long one. Every part of the milkweed plant is capable of yielding a variety of useful materials, as shown in the charts at the right. With the utility of the floss already proved and the commercial value of its by-products now being studied, the milkweed plant may offer a new mine of organic materials for a host of industries from plane building to toy manufacture. ' .Aviation. F?r thermal and acoustical insulation in planes, milkweed floss IS at least equally as effective as kapok, the most commonly used material. Milkweed floss is the only native Americ~n. plant available as a replacement for kapok. Like kapok, It IS hollow and has air cells inside it, enables a plane and its occupants to withstand quick temperature drops in stratosphere flights, and deadens the roar of the motor. Another use for the floss is as stuffing for plane upholstery. Like kapok, it is soft and resilient.
