234 LUTHER BURBANK 



several species were pretty sharply defined. The 

 best of these are now being crossed, the object 

 being to get varieties of more beautiful blossoms 

 for garden culture, and also to secure varieties 

 that will be of value in producing a fiber that 

 has something of the quality of silk. 



Even now tons of milkweed seed pods just 

 before they are ready to open are dried in the 

 Mississippi Valley and shipped to Japan, where 

 they are used to make a kind of cloth, which is 

 even more beautiful than the finest silk, but not 

 as durable on account of the short fiber. In the 

 Philippines there is a remotely related plant, the 

 Kapok, which supplies a fiber much used for 

 filling pillows and the like. 



It is considered within the possibilities that a 

 variety may be produced that will be of value for 

 the production of rubber, as the juice of some 

 species has excellent rubber qualities. 



The native varieties of milkweed are generally 

 exceedingly hardy and as they are perennials 

 may be worked on season after season. There 

 is great variation as to vigor of growth, size of 

 leaves, compactness of plants, and color and 

 form of leaves, as well as regarding the size, 

 color, and abundance of blossoms. The seed 

 pods, with their white, silklike fiber, also vary 

 greatly. And there is corresponding variation 



