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1944 - Harvest For War - Milkweed Pods Used in Navy Lifejackets Picked By 1,000 Victory Corp Boys
Article from Sep 21, 1944 Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, Indiana) 1944, Milkweed, World war ii1944 - Harvest For War - Milkweed Pods Used in Navy Lifejackets Picked By 1,000 Victory Corp Boys Evansville Courier and Press, Evansville, Indiana, Thursday, September 21, 1944, Page 1.
HARVEST FOR WAR
Milkweed Pods Used In Navy Lifejackets To Be Picked By 1000 Victory Corps Boys
(Pictures on Page 5) By FRANCE KING
APPROXIMATELY 1,000 boys who are members of the four schools Victory Corps will don overalls pack their lunches and heigh away to tha corn fields in Union and Knight township on Oct 20 to harvest the county's crop of milkweed pods.
Tentative plans for the harvesting were made yesterday afternoon at the meeting of a county committee representing schools, farmers, trustees, and the county agent's office. The group met with O. C. Lee of Purdue university who is in charge of the harvest in Indiana. The floss from the pods will be used for making navy lifejackets called "Mae West's."
According to the plans made yesterday the boys will be excused from school on Friday Oct 20 and will be taken to farms by county school busses which will be provided through the office of Charles Robinson county superintendent. They also will collect pods on Oct 21 and the following week-end on Oct 20 to 23 while schools are recessed for the Southwestern Indiana Teachers association convention.
Alex Jardine acting superintendent of schools suggested that the arrangement for paying the boys for pods collected be held up until each school's corps decides whether they want the money to go into the corps' treasury or whether each boy should keep for himself the money derived from his work.
County Agent A. M. Biahen said that his office would send a representative to the various townships in the county to spot the fields that will afford the best picking. The buses will be loaded at the high school and routed accordingly he said.
Mr. Bishea suggested that the boys start working about 10 o'clock in the morning and get bark to the high schools by 3 in order that the rural pupils might catch their busses home and also for the sake of bus drivers who will have routes to make for rural grade schools. Mr. Lee estimated that 50,000 (Continued on Page 5, Columne 3)
1944 - School Children Send Milkweed to War - Milkweed Pods To Be Collected
Article from Sep 21, 1944 Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, Indiana) 1944, Milkweed, World war ii1944 - School Children Send Milkweed to War - Milkweed Pods To Be Collected Evansville Courier and Press, Evansville, Indiana, Thursday, September 21, 1944, Page 5.
SCHOOL CHILDREN SEND MILKWEED TO WAR
O. C. Lee of Purdue university who is heading the harvest of milkweed pods in Indiana explains to Louis Carroll Jr. and Helen Mallory. Barker school pupils, that the pods on the climbing milk weed entwining the cornstalk will be used to save a sailor's life by providing him with a lifejaeket. He's also telling them that they'll be paid 15 cents for every bushel onion bag of pods they collect which sounds interesting to them.
It's amazing sayss Helen Mallory, above. Union township school girl that two bushels of the milkweed pods she's holding in her hands can be made into a "Mae West" lifejacket like the one she is wearing. The Jackets are used by the navy.
Milkweed Pods To Be Collected (Continued from Page One) bushel bags of the pods could he harvested in this county. Two bags of tbe floss make one life Jacket. He reminded that tbe boys will be paid 15 cents for each bag of green pods.
The question then arose as to how the green pods once collerted would be dried. Stewart Guthrie vocational agrirulture teacher at Reitz high school suggested that his agriculture class boys might be willing to make a project of it. Mr Lee pointed out that it would mean obtaining the permission of some farmer to use several acres of his ground for erecting poles and wire on which to hang the bags of pods. He stressed that the pods must be dried in the onion bags. In tbe out-of doors or that they will spoil. Mr Lea said that the biggest job for the agriculture class would be in getting the poles up and the bags hung. Then all they would have to do would he to visit the plot every day to see that none of the bags had fallen off. Ran will not hurt their drying he said. The Purdue men estimated that it will take about five weeks for them to dry properly. The agriculture students would receive a nickel for each bag dried which would net them several thousand dollars if they dried all of those expected to he collected by the Victory Corps.
Others Can Help
Although the big harvest will be made by the Victory Corps, the committee urged that any group wanting to work in the harvest contact the county agent's office for special instructions. Mr Robinson told the committee that he would distribute some of the special harvesting bags of rural schools in order that children there might carry on their own private projects.
Mr Lee emphasised to everyone collecting pods however that they must he dried in onion Backs and kept out in the open so that air can circulate between them. The sacks may be obtained from Mr Bishea in the court house basement. The price paid per bag is 20 cents for dried pods and 15 cents for green ones.
Members of the committee organising the drive yesterday were Mr. Bishea, Mr. Jardine, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Lee, Chris Buente of the AAA office; Ed Durgdorf and Oscar Schnur, Union township farmers Fay Hille, Union trustee and Joe Graddy, Knight township trustee.
1944 - Milkweed A "War Plant" - Government wants 1,500,000 pounds of milkweed floss for life jackets
Article from Jul 13, 1944 The Hancock Democrat (Greenfield, Indiana) 1944, Milkweed, World war ii1944 - Milkweed A "War Plant" - Government wants 1,500,000 pounds of milkweed floss for life jackets The Hancock Democrat, Greenfield, Indiana, Thursday, July 13, 1944, Page 3
MILKWEED A "WAR PLANT The Government wants 1,500,000 pounds of milkweed floss this year for life iackets. All if this floss must come from the wild stands, inasmuch as milkweed has been considered a weed, and it takes three years to develop the plant as a cultivated crop.
After years of being considered a pest, milkweed finds itself suddenly on the nation's priority list as a "war plant" because the floss its pods contain can be used to replace war-scarce kapok. Because of the need for milkweed floss the Department of Agriculture is asking that milkweed not be destroyed until the pods are harvested.
Milkweed pods will be collected in 38 states this year in order to provide milkweed florr for life jackts and aviators' suits with a view to replacing the kapok formerly used. Kapok is now controlled by the Japanese.
Schools. 4-H clubs, boys' and girls' organizations, educational groups and State and County War Boards are cooperating in the collection of milkweed pods.
Enough milkweed floss for 50 life jackets was turned in last year bv students in an Indian training school in northwest Utah. Enough milkweed floss to supply a life jacket for every man and woman from the community who had entered the armed forces was the goal of one Michigan school last year. The children surpassed their goal.
The Government hopes to get a peak milkweed pod harvest from milkweed along roads and highways. The Public Roads Administration is asking State and and County highway commissioners to let milkweed grow until the pods are picked in order to get floss for needed life jackets.
It takes at least 800 pounds of milkweed pods to make a pound of milkweed floss.
In addition to its use in life jackets and aviators' suits, milkweed floss is used for thermal and accoustical insulation for aircraft..
July 19, 1944, page 18, The Journal Gazette newspaper.
1944 - Lowly Hoosier Milkweed Collection Drive Slated for September, October - Milkweed Floos
Article from Jul 19, 1944 The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana) 1944, Milkweed, World war ii1944 - Lowly Hoosier Milkweed Collection Drive Slated for September, October - Milkweed Floss The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana, Wednesday, July 19, 1944, Page 13.
Lowly Hoosier Milkweed Collection Drive Slated For September, October
If you see a milkweed pod grab it.
For the lowly Hoosier milkweed has gone to war.
Milkweed floss is a perfect substitute for kapoc as a filler for life belts, and the seeds contain 32 per cent quick-drying oil with a multiplicity of uses.
Indiana is one of 32 states In which the government Is to con duct an Intensive drive for collection of dried milkweed pods during September and October with school groups expected to participate.
Oliver C. Lee, Purdue University weed specialist, Is to head the drive and has been granted a leave of absence.
He said Indiana's distribution of milkweed is light and "rather scattered," with the heaviest contributions expected to be obtained from Elkhart, Lagrange and Madison counties.
Collectors will be paid 20 cents a bushel bag for the pods, with the government providing the bags, Mr. Lee said.
1944 - Milkweed Pod Pickers Needed - War Hemp Inc. to Pay 20 Cents Per Bushel.
Article from Aug 31, 1944 The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Indiana) 1944, Milkweed, World war ii1944 - Milkweed Pod Pickers Needed - War Hemp Inc. to Pay 20 Cents Per Bushel. The South Bend Tribune, South Bend, Indiana, Thursday, August 31, 1944, Page 19.
MILKWEED POD PICKERS NEEDED
War Hemp Inc., 1 to Pay 20 Cents Per Bushel.
Gathering of milkweed pods as a war project has been announced here by E. C. Bird, St. Joseph county agricultural agent, who is directing the project with the county war board. Otto J. Newman, county superintendent, is serving as a leader working in cooperation with Mr. Bird.
According to Mr. Bird, persons interested in gathering the fluffy white pods should get detailed information from him or Mr. Newman. Empty bags will be distributed through his office and at schools throughout the county. War Hemp, Inc., will pay 20 cents per bushel bag and the county committee will have charge of payment to pickers.
Directions say the picking should not begin until some of the seeds in the pod have' turned brown. If they are picked green the floss lacks the desired bouyancy and is useless for making life belts. When the pods are picked, they should be placed in the mesh bags provided and the bags should be hung somewhere out-of-doors and off the ground until the floss is thoroughly dry. . The directions add that they can be left out in the rain without damage to the floss. When the bags are dry, they are to be taken to a school or some other designated place. When all the available bags of pods have been assembled they will be sent to Petoskey, Mich., for processing for use in making life-saving equipment.
1944 - Milkweeds And War - Indiana school children collected twenty tons - enough 1,000 life jackets
Article from Nov 20, 1944 The Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana) 1944, Milkweed, World war ii1944 - Milkweeds And War - Indiana school children collected twenty tons - enough 1,000 life jackets The Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Indiana, Monday, November 20, 1944, Page 6.
MILKWEEDS AND WAR
Many of us have watched the floss from ripened milkweed pods float through the air without any thought that it might have practical value. Then, this year, a nation-wide movement was started to collect the pods before they opened and thus conserve the floss for use as a part of the war effort. The school children of one Indiana county collected twenty tons of these pods, which means that enough floss became available through their efforts to use in 1,000 life jackets. Some American sailor, going overboard in a sea battle, may live because these youngsters throughout the state took such an interest in the collection of milkweed pods.
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April 29, 2015 Scan-A-Thon post by Whitko Community Digital Image Project on Facebook:
Monroe School students who gathered milk weed pods to help with the war effort during World War II.
- The heroic milkweed at the Christian Science Monitor. This common plant helped keep soldiers afloat and aloft in World War II. state:
wartime pamphlets encouraged children to gather milkweed. A brochure produced by the Soil Conservation Service for War Hemp Industries urged: “School children of America! Help save your father’s, brothers’, and neighbors’ lives by collecting milkweed pods.”Canada and about 29 American states east of the Rockies were involved in the campaign, which furnished about 2 million pounds of milkweed floss to the armed services in one year. The slogan “Two bags save one life” summed up the main mission. The floss harvested from two bags of milkweed pods would fill one life jacket. Milkweed floss was also used to line flight suits. The pods were sent to the Petoskey Fairgrounds in Michigan to be dried and processed. A 1944 issue of National Geographic magazine shows 90,000 pounds of milkweed drying there, “to buoy up fighting men’s life jackets.” It’s been estimated that more than 11 million pounds of milkweed were collected by the end of World War II.
- WWII Need For Milkweed Pods on Charlevoix Emmet History blog has lots of interesting photos such as newspaper ads for milkweed.
- Milkweed: A War Strategic Material and a Potential Industrial Crop for Sub-Marginal Lands in the United States by Boris Berkman in Economic Botany Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1949), pp. 223-239 by the New York Botanical Garden Press at JSTOR.
- Second World War: Picking Milkweed Pods for Life Jackets Schoolteacher takes her class out during the second World War to pick milkweed pods for making life jackets. By Clara Planing Reeve Cornell, Wisconsin in CAPPER's Staff Good Old Days.
- A weed goes to war, and Michigan provides the ammunition published February 5, 2014 at Michigan History Magazine.
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BACK IN THE DAY WHEN PICKING MILKWEED WAS A PATRIOTIC PURSUIT, Kathryn A. Kahler. Historic photo of two young boys picking milkweed pods This 1944 DNR photo shows two boys gathering milkweed pods in Dane County. Floss from the pods was used to fill life preservers for military use during World War II. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.