The National tribune., 1881-08-20
CoVERLETS FROM SILKWEED DOWN.


The mlkweed or silkweed Asclepias Syriaca,
A. Cornmi, &c. is so common as to be looked upon
by many as weed. At the same time, for vari-
Gus reasons it attracts more attention than per-
haps any other widely disseminated plant The
fragrance of it's flowers the snaps of its leaves its
milky juice, its strange pod and silky down, can
not fail to render the plant conspicuous. Several
times efforts have been made to find some use for
1t, but if [ am well informed, so far without sue
cess. More than once it has been proposed to spin
the down or silk, but it lacks the tOughneSs nee
essary for textile material. In the country the
silk is occasionally employed for filling pillows
mattresses, but it is too unelastic and too prone
to felt" to last any length of time. In 1875, at
the meeting of the American Pharmaceutical AS
sociation in Boston, Mr.. William Saunders, of Lon
don, Canada spoke of efforts then made to extract
rubber from the plant That it contains much
caoutchouc is undoubted, but the process of ex-
neutrality-suspicious. with bisulphate of carbon
has probably proved too expensive, as the project
appears to have been abandoned Last summer
being in the country at the season when the pods
become ripe put into execution project that
had formed some time before, but had not been
able to bring to a conclusion This was to collect
the silk to make a bed coverlet for the winter to
replace elder down AS my experiment proved
successful, will describe my process for the ben
eft Of the readers of the american Aqriculturist
1t is as follows:
Near the end of August, Or the beginning of
September, when the pods are nearly ripe, and
some of the silk is seen floating in the fields, col
lect good batch of the pods and spread them in
the shade for day or two. This has the effect of
drying up the sap, that ON shelling the pods no
milky juice escapes to stain the hands and clothes.
AS soon the green shells are removed, the seeds
should be scraped off with blunt knife. This is
another important point, for if the inside of the
pod is allowed to dry it is almost impossible to
separate the seeds without having the silk flying
all the room while the green seeds are scraped
off very easily and rapidly. This being DONE the
bundles of silk-fOr such is their appearance-are
spread on shelves, or in any convenient place. and
left to become almost dry. Finally the cores are
removed from the center, and the silk is put into
bed ticking OF the proper shape, and sewed up.
On drying completely, the silk swells consider
ably, and thus makes extremely warm and
light coverlet. When freshly made, it compares
favOrably with real elder down. But, remember
it must always be used ocer the body, not under
it. It's principal advantage is its remarkable light
ness. Spread over the feet, it keeps them very
warm and yet scarcely any weight is noticed.
Before ending, must say that, owing to the great
liability of the silk to felt" the milkweed cover
let is in really good condition for only winter
Mine has been found very comfortable during the
past unusually cold season, and propose to make
another this summer. When not in use the down
will keep intact for a long while. had some in a
paper bag for eight years, that remained as good
as ever worms do not attack it. One more word
on handling the pods it is difficult to avoid some
stains from the milky juice. On drying, this
leaves black spot AS the stain consist of caout-
chouc, pure and simple it can be removed by its
most common solvents namely, grease or butter.
First rub the spots with any sort of grease, until
the black substance is dissolved, then wash your
hands with soap and water-Dr. j. Cfeuze in
american AgricuHurist.