STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
of vegetables. Our own native Shrubby Milkweed has 
some marked peculiarities which deserve notice: in common 
with all the Milkweeds it has a strong fine silky fibre in 
the bark, which can be drawn to a great degree of fineness 
and in one of the species, Apocynum cannabinum (Indian 
Hemp), is exceedingly tough and strong; it is said to 
have been used by the natives in lieu of thread. No doubt 
it can be put to such purpose. While many writers have 
dwelt upon the silk contained in the pods of the Milkweeds, 
suggesting the possible uses to which it might be applied, 
the more valuable strong flaxen fibre, which is superior in 
quality to hemp, seems in a large measure to have escaped 
public attention. The free growth of the common white- 
flowered Milkweed, which could be easily cultivated, grow- 
ing readily and attaining the height of three or four feet, 
would give a long thread easily divided into the finest 
strands, and might form, as I have already remarked, a 
valuable addition in the manufacture of native Canadian 
fabrics. 
The ancient name, Apocynum, is derived from two Greek 
words signifying “from a dog”; this shrub was supposed 
to be injurious or baneful to dogs; whence its common name, 
Dogbane. Whether the plant deserves this reproach as 
regards dogs I cannot say; but truth obliges me to confess 
that in its pretty treacherous bells many a poor incautious 
fly meets with a certain, though possibly lingering, death. 
Lured by the fragrance of its blossoms, which it gives out 
at dew-fall, hundreds of small black flies seek rest and shelter 
in the flowers, and are seized instantly by the irritable 
stamens and held in durance by their legs; and as there 
is no philanthropist to take his nightly rounds and release 
them, they perish in their flowery prison. 
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