"Old rags."
"I thought shoddy was made from old rags."
"They are both made from them. The best ones are put into shoddy, and the odds and ends into flocks."
"Well, if this stuff is flocks, how is shoddy made, and what does it look like?"
"It is something like wool. The rags are fed into a 'picker' up in the 'pick room,' and come out all torn apart."
"It is mixed with a little coarse wool, and carded into rope yarn, the same as wool, ready to be spun."
"The idea of weaving shoddy into cloth is new to me. It can't make very good cloth."
"Well, they only use it for the back of the cloth. Here, look at this piece! See; it is white on one side and brown on the other. The white side is the face, and is made from good wool. You see we are beating these flocks in on the back side."
"Yes, I see you are; and now as you've told me about shoddy, I'd like to know about flocks, for that's what I have got to handle, I suppose."