15S 
'Silk, cotton or milk weed, derived from the milky substance 
which they contain, and of a kind of vegetable silk or cotton 
connected with the seed in their pods. 
Leaving for the investigation of the chemists the medicin¬ 
al virtues of the roots and juices of these plants, and partic¬ 
ularly of the asclefiias albo JLore , the extract of which was 
ranked among the most powerful agents of the art of healing, 
before fashion, which rules the physician as well as the rest 
of the world, had almost entirely discarded the vegetable 
and substituted to them the mineral, I will consider only in 
this communication the economical benefits which might be 
derived from the cultivation of the asclepias syriaca or silk 
weed ; and of the apocinum cannabinum or Indian hemp. 
The silk weed grows all over the state, on upland, in a 
straight stem from two to three feet high, the top of which 
is crowned by several bunches of small white and purple 
blossoms, sweet scented and abounding with honey, from 
which originate large pods containing a vegetable silk which 
adheres to the seed, and seems intended by nature to carry it 
like wings through the air, to spread and multiply it on the 
surface of the earth. 
The silky substance collected from that plant is used in 
France with great advantage, and is cultivated under the 
name of houatte or wadding. They card it, spin it, and man¬ 
ufacture it into velvets, cloths and hose, with or without the 
intermixture of cotton or silk. It is also used for wadding 
to stuff quilts and counterpanes, and for that purpose it is far 
preferable to cotton, being warmer and lighter. To card it 
by itself they expose it in bags to the steam of water, but 
mixed with silk or cotton it does not require the intervention 
of the steam to be made into rolls and spun. The vel¬ 
vets and other textures made with that vegetable silk which 
I have seen in Europe, resembled, if not excelled the bril¬ 
liancy of the silk, and with proper mordants had received 
the most elegant colouring. 
The apocinum, or Indian hemp, grows profusely on pur 
low lands. Its blossoms like those of the silk weed are pur- 
