Studies of the Distribution and Floss Yield of Common Milkweed (Asclepias Syriaca L.) in Northern Michigan

Abstract

Interest in common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) was recently renewed and greatly stimulated because the floss of this plant is our only native plant fiber that occurs in sufficient abundance, that can be harvested with relatively low expenditures, and that possesses buoyant properties similar to kapok, formerly imported from Netherlands East Indies before the occupation of those islands by Japan during the War. Investigations with A. syriaca harvested in northern Michigan showed the floss to be a suitable substitute for kapok in the manufacture of life preservers (Berkman, '42). Machinery for processing milkweed pods and floss was developed and patented, and a commercial plant was established at Petoskey, Michigan (Stouffer, '42). The War Production Board requested the Department of Agriculture in 1943 to supervise the collection of milkweed floss as a war program. This work was assigned to War Hemp Industries of the Commodity Credit Corporation, which in turn had the active program conducted by the Milkweed Floss Division with headquarters at Petoskey, Michigan. The studies reported here were conducted to obtain information on the amount of wild milkweed floss available in northern Michigan and on the possibilities of increasing floss production from wild or natural stands of milkweed in that area, should war measures make it necessary to increase production of the fiber for use as a kapok substitute. A considerable amount of research upon milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) has been reported since Sonnini (1810) published his treatise on work in France and other parts of Europe. A comprehensive summary of the literature on milkweeds has been published (Whiting, '43). Only a few citations pertinent to this study are made here. Common milkweed (A. syriaca) is of American origin. The bast fibers of four species of milkweed were used by the American Indians, 4. syriaca being the most widely used (Whitford, '41). It has been noted that A. syriaca is widely spread in eastern United States and southern Canada (Neish, '13). The occurrence of this species in Canada is greatest in eastern Ontario and southern Quebec, which have the same latitude as northern Michigan (Groh, '43). Several early adventures in the cultivation of Asclepias incarnata and A. syriaca in Canada were reported by Kirkwood ('67). A. syriaca was grown on a nearly commercial scale at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station in order to test actual growing conditions and possible utilization (Iowa Agric. Exp. Sta. Ann. Repts., 1925--29, and Gerhardt, '30). Re1 Investigations conducted cooperatively by the Division of Cotton and Other Fiber Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. D. A., and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. 2 Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering. Grateful acknowledgment is made to C. S. Simmons, Division of Soil Survey, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering, who identified the soil types in these studies; to C. M. Harrison, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station; M. A. McCall, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering; and B. B. Robinson, Division of Cotton and Other Fiber Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering, for assistance and counsel in planning the studies and in preparation of the manuscript; and to H. A. Gunning, Soil Conservation Service, in charge of the United States Government Collection Purchase Program, for cooperation and counsel in conducting the studies.