54 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



They thrive most luxuriantly in light soil, but they 

 will flourish on any poor land. 



As soon as the pods are arrived at maturity, which 

 is known by the bursting of their shells, they are 

 gathered and dried. The seeds are then picked out, 

 and the down enclosed in bags : without this latter 

 precaution it would soon be wafted away, as when 

 dry it is so extremely light that the least breath of air 

 disperses it beyond recall. Within these bags it is 

 exposed to the steam of boiling water, and when in 

 a moist state is carded. This operation is usually 

 and more readily performed with alternate layers of 

 cotton, which gives to the down sufficient body for 

 spinning. 



It was only after many attempts that M. Lemaire 

 succeeded in carding it alone, which he found to be 

 a most troublesome task. The stuff manufactured 

 with the mixture of cotton and this material has a 

 very silky appearance ; and it is said in other respects 

 offers encouragement for the farther cultivation of the 

 Asclepias Syriaca. 



The peculiar produce of its pod is not the only 

 useful part of the plant, as the fibres of the stem, 

 prepared in the same manner as those of hemp and 

 flax, furnish a very long fine thread of a glossy 

 whiteness. 



A strong kind of cloth is prepared in some parts 

 of Sweden from the stalk of the hop plant. In the 

 Transactions of the Swedish Academy for 1750, 

 there will be found an account of the process used 

 for this purpose. The hop plant is so well known, 

 in its more common application to another wholly 

 dissimilar use, that of flavouring and preserving beer 

 by means of its bitter flowers, and it is so rarely 

 employed for productions which relate to the present 

 subject, that it would be out of place were we here to 



