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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Btfsplk who wrote (23278)	7/7/2006 7:43:09 PM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 541556

During WWII my mom collected milkweed pods for use in life jackets... Milkweed Pod Collection Program izaak.unh.edu Before WWII, the United Stated imported kapok (fibers from the seed pods of the silk-cotton trees) for filling life jackets. When the Japanese captured the East Indies, the supply of kapok was cut off. Milkweed floss turned out to be the best substitute for kapok. Although commerical raising was possible, it takes three years for a plant to produce large, full pods, so wild plants were needed for immediate use. The US Department of Agriculture turned to the public for assistants. Farmers were asked not to mow the roadsides and fields where the plants (long regarded by them as a pest) grew until the pods were ready for harvesting. Hundreds of school children were involved in picking the pods.