SILK COTTONS. 317 



mucous down, which enwraps the seeds, and which is said to be employed in 

 the manufacture of English beavers. 



Another West Indian silk cotton, the Eriodendron Caribceum (E. 

 anfractuosum, Dec. ; Bornbax pentandrum, Lin.), furnishes the silky down •' 

 known in the East under the name of capock. The woolly coat of 

 the seeds of most of the species is used in different countries for stuffing 

 cushions and similar purposes. 



Edwards (' Voyage up the River Amazon') makes mention of " the 

 sumaumeira tree, which yields a long-stapled silky white cotton, grows upon 

 the banks of the Rio Negro in great abundance, and could probably be made 

 of service, were it once known to the cotton-weaving communities. It is 

 excessively light, flying like down ; but the Indians make beautiful 

 fabrics of it." This is, no doubt, the Eriodendron Samauna. 



The wool of various Sterculiacese — as of the balsa (Ochroma Lagopus, 

 Swartz), ceiba (Eriodendron Caribceum, Don), and barrigon (Pachira 

 Barrigon, Seeman) — is employed in Central America for stuffing pillows, 

 cushions, &c. 



The seeds of the Syrian swallow-wort (Asclepias Syriaca) are covered 

 with a thistle-like down an inch or two in length, which it was at one time 

 proposed to spin into textures for wearing apparel. Articles of dress have, we 

 learn, been manufactured with it both in France and Russia. It is well adapted 

 for stuffing mattresses and pillows. It is very common in the United 

 States, where it is called silk-weed ; and the silky down is there used for 

 making hats, as well as for stuffing bedding. Specimens of it from 

 Canada were shown at the Exhibition of London in 1851, and at Paris in 

 1855. The down of the Asclepiads, Dr Royle observes, may no doubt be 

 turned to some useful ptuposes, and therefore makes the plants abounding 

 in fibre more valuable, as yielding a double product. 



Dr A. Hunter, of Madras, has drawn attention to the value of the fibre of 

 the yercum (Calotropis gigantea) silk cotton. The plant thrives best in 

 the neighbourhood of neglected rubbish-heaps, whence it derives an abun- 

 dant supply of nitrogen, which seems essential to its perfection. The diffi- 

 culty of spinning its hairs, which do not contract in the same way as cotton, 

 has been overcome by new machinery. A variety of fabrics of a light, soft 

 texture were lately exhibited in Madras by Messrs Thresher and Glenny, 

 made from the yercum silk cotton mixed with other fibres. The cloth is 

 well suited as a substitute for flannel. Several large bales of the fibres 

 have been sent to London. It is expected that, with aloe and plantain 

 fibre, they will be fit for the finest descriptions of note-paper. The whole 

 plant is of commercial value. In Madras the silk cotton of the pod is col- 

 lected, in Bombay the fibre of the bark is used as a substitute for flax, 

 and in Bengal the natives collect the milky juice as a substitute for shellac 

 and gutta-percha. 



" Mr Moncton, C. S., has proposed making use of the downy substance 

 contained in the follicles of the mudar or yercum, and, indeed, has had 

 paper made of it, as well pure as when mixed with two-fifths of the pulp 



