Science: The Termites Are Winning

(3 of 3)

The pesky milkweed, cursed by farmers, has found a use-as a substitute for kapok. With a newly invented milkweed gin, a Michigan factory will next month start removing 1,000,000 lb. of floss from milkweed pods, for the U.S. Navy. The floss will replace kapok, formerly imported from Java, in l) life jackets where, like kapok, it is six times as buoyant as cork; 2) linings of flying suits, where it is as warm as wool but six times lighter. Next year farmers will be paid to plant free milkweed seed in 50,000 barren acres of upper Michigan.