The Red Cloud chief., 1881-09-29
The Nilkweesi.

Almost everybody. at some time ar
other. has made the ~acquaintan r. q Of the
milkweed. or silkwced, - | have heard
il called.
A reason for each Of these names II
very apparent IL you break tie stem.
a stickS substance like milk runs from
IT. which will stain your clothes Nhy
/ the plant is also called silkwced. shall
explain to you presently.
knew thi, weed very well IN New
England when | was q little girl. In
July. il hangs out n cluster of small
purple bells. and later. after the bios
SONS have gone. very large seed po'is
are formed. which grow In be- several
inches long. aud are pointed 4, the end
opposite the stem. IL these pods were
left on the plant until the seeds were
fully ripened. they would split open
themselves. and gradually the seeds
would fly out. earn, ing with them
enough Of these silSen threads. n fine
as n spider = web, Ia float them On the
wind for miles away. perhaps. You
must have seen them many n time.
The silk radiates IN ever direction
from the central seed. making n gauzy.
| hlmv sphere. with a small. dark center
| The seeds cluster about the open ng of
the pod. until the wind picks them out
and carries them abroad. but IL YOU
pick some Of the pods when green. aud
put them in n vase where they are not
disturbed, the pod will open part way.
like an oyster shell. and the snc ulken
threads. folded and packed 40 clo .ely in
the center. will fy apart aud get out. in
some way, so that after n while the pol
will be covered with a cloud of white.
This is very beautiful; and. IL IL stands
in a corner q u Of the way Of sudden
breezes. it will be likely tn remain 80
all winter. You now see why il iscallc ed
silkwecd.
My sister and I yearly collected sex.
eral Of these silkweeds for our play
house by the stone wall. where we kept
our bits of broken china. and rams
formed the pods into domestic amin lis.
Often. a pod would be well shaped 'or
a chicken. requiring only feathers la be
stuck into the pointed tail. AMI the
stem To be byoAen of short nj h other
end and sharpened to represent the
bill. Two STICKS put in served for legs.
so hat il would rest on these ami ON
the point of the tail. When we played
that Thanksgiving DAY had come. and
wanted chickens for dinner. we had only
to pull out the tail-festhers Of a pair Of
fowls" and. of course. take Oh their
legs; and. when they were ready for
the table. instead of carving. we split
open the pods. rs you do those Of the
pea or bean. and behold, there was the
most tempting-looking white and
dark" meat within. The white meat
was fibrous. like silk. and lay in the
center; over il were fiat brown seeds.
overlapping one another like the shin
giles IN a house roof. and making u
dark meat"
We not only Transformed these pods
into poultry. but also into q~uadrupeds
Of all sorts. Put in four legs. n pair of
horns and a tail. and you have your
cow. and one. too. which really gives
milk, Leave of the horns, take \ bit
Of your own hair 10 use for q tail. and
you have 3 horse.
But these are only q few hints. and l
VIII let you experiment for yourself this
season. and find out what you can do
beyond this in making animals and
other figures.-S. Nicholas.