It is impossible to see what is inside of a pillow tick when it is sewed; so one must place confidence in the merchant from whom pillows are purchased. Pillows of all descriptions are put on the market, from the commonest chicken quilled feather to the finest quilless goose down, made up in the cheapest tick to the finest art or linen tick. For the purpose of making a matched outfit, most mattress manufacturers make pillows to match the ticking used on the mattresses. Pillow factories have complete improved steam renovators through which all feathers are run before they are made into pillows, a process of stripping the feather of quills, another of assorting the feathers and down, to be made into different qualities of pillows. The light weight pillows are usually made of the finest goose down, which can be recognized by the great resiliency the pillows seem to have when one presses hard upon them. Those made of feathers are heavier, so that by comparing the weight one can usually judge the better from the cheaper grades. The quills of the feathers of the inferior pillows can be felt through the ticking.

It takes three pounds of feathers for each pillow. New goose feathers cost about fifty cents a pound; add to this the cost of ticking and labor, and the price alone will help you to judge the quality of a pillow.

Silk floss is not recommended for pillows as the floss has a tendency to separate, which is overcome in mattresses by the tufting process.