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Show With their bags full of milkweed pods, Belmont county, Ohio, children gather on the steps of their school after a day of picking. Many communities com-munities last year combined a picnic with the pod harvesting. down, retie any that have been opened and, especially after wet weather, to shake each bag to fluff it up and help drying. Dew, rain or snow do not hurt the pods if the bags are hung up properly. After two to six weeks, the thoroughly dried bags are put indoors to await pickup. The floss of the milkweed plant is a very elusive substance. As the plant approaches seasonal maturity the leaves drop, the stem gradually ceases to function and while the pods cling tenaciously to the stem, they lose moisture and shrivel until they split and release floss and seed. All children are urged to- watch for the purplish flowers and fat green pods of milkweed (Ascle-pias), (Ascle-pias), making notes on locations where they are to be found and on the areas where they are most abundant. abun-dant. Then, in early Fall when the seed within the pods begin to turn brown, the picking can get under way immediately in those marked locations. Picking starts about the middle of September. Knowledge of the natural distribution of milkweed milk-weed within the United States indicates indi-cates that it is possible to obtain from one to two million pounds of floss annually. |