Mr. Howard wrote for an explanation of the above subject. I don't know much about shuck beans, but I know a little about goose feather pillows. Usually the mattresses (called bolsters) were made of the goose or chicken feathers, but most people used goose "down", a fluffly part of the feather (at it's base), to make pillows. I have one on my bed now. It never gets firm or beaten down. Give it a little punch and it's right back to "fluffy". Also, feathers and down were sometimes mixed for some bed bolsters. Ruth