John 8ooten, Jr., age 11, of Nashua, N.H., for his question:

WHERE DO WE GET KAPOK?

Kapok is a light, soft, lustrous, cotton like fiber. It comes from the seedpods of the kapok tree, which is sometimes called the silk cotton tree. The kapok tree grows in Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and tropical America.

After the ripe fruit of the kapok tree is picked, the seeds and fibers are taken out and dried in the sun. Workers then separate the seeds and fibers and pack the fibers into the bales.

Kapok is light and vermin proof and it does not absorb water easily.

The material is useful as a filling for mattresses and furniture and it is also used as a substitute for cork in life jackets.

Kapok seed yields an oil used in making soap and cattle feed. The tree also produces a gum that is used in the manufacture of some medicine. In addition, the light, soft wood of the kapok tree is sometimes used for canoes and rafts.