MARKETING EASTERN GRAPES. 25 



of crop shortage, when buyers are clamoring for shipments and 

 hunting to find them, many sales are made on the basis of " cash 

 track," while in years of normal supply the shippers have to seek 

 buyers and are thereby forced to sell on " usual terms." 



In the case of oversupplied markets, or when the average quality 

 of the stock is poor, it is sometimes impossible to sell all of the 

 grapes ready for shipment on an f. o. b. basis. Under these condi- 

 tions the only alternative is to consign to dealers in the large terminal 

 markets for sale on a commission basis, or to sell through city 

 brokers. 



SALES ON ACCOUNT. 



Account sales are of two general types, " joint accounts " and 

 "open accounts." Joint account sales are common in the Chau- 

 tauqua-Erie belt and to some extent in the Central Lakes, and are 

 infrequently seen in other important sections. Deals of this sort 

 presuppose an agreement between a shipper, usually a local buyer, 

 and a carlot receiver in a terminal market-, whereby the two enter 

 into a virtual parnership to buy, ship, and sell grapes, the final 

 profits being divided between the two, usually on the basis of joint 

 account. 



Open account sales are common in the Chautauqua-Erie belt and 

 are variable in type, their particular characteristic being that they 

 are made between shippers and dealers who are mutually confident 

 in each other's integrity and financial soundness, so that sales are 

 made at what the shipper says is the market price and allowances 

 are made for the arrival of stock in markets in poor condition, on 

 the word of the buyer, and for a falling market. After the car 

 arrives in market and is sold the buyer remits to the shipper, thus 

 closing the account. 



SECTIONS WHERE F. O. B. SALES ARE MADE. 



While the great bulk of the commercial crop of the East is 

 marketed by these methods, f. o. b. sales are seldom found outside 

 of the few highly specialized grape districts, where each of the 

 larger shippers is able to offer several cars a day. In Michigan, the 

 Chautauqua-Erie belt, parts of the Central Lakes district of New 

 York, the Hudson Valley of New York, and parts of the Missouri 

 Valley district, factors, local dealers, or cooperative associations 

 have so developed their business and established contacts in the 

 cities to which they usually sell that they are enabled to make most 

 of their sales on telegraphic orders, especially in seasons of short 

 production. In outlying parts of these districts and in the less im- 

 portant sections of Delaware, the Southeast, New Jersey, the 

 Ontario shore of New York, and parts of Missouri, few sales are 

 made on an f. o. b. basis, as, except in a few instances, there are 



178922°— 20 4 



