MARKETING EASTERN GRAPES. 47 



September. The Concord generally begins to move heavily about 

 September 1 and is usually cleaning up in the third week. In a 

 normal season the heaviest shipments are between September 10 

 and 18. 



No definite, up-to-date figures on the commercial acreages in this 

 section are available, but a comparison of the carlot shipments from 

 these four States (see Table 1) with the shipments of New York and 

 Michigan will show the position it holds in the industry. The severe 

 winters of 1916-17 and of 1917-18 played havoc with the vineyards 

 in the northern part of this territory. The acreage in the section of 

 Council Bluffs and Omaha is at present only about 35 per cent of 

 that of three years ago. However, many vineyards are being re- 

 planted, so that the industry in this section may, in time, reach its 

 former importance. Farther south, along the Missouri River, in 

 the St. Joseph.- Wathena section, the damage is not so marked, as 65 

 per cent of the former acreage survives. In the Ozarks the industry 

 is proving profitable and shows a steady increase in acreage, and in 

 other sections the replantings approximate the acreage abandoned 

 each year. 



As in all such cases, these reductions of acreage served to put the 

 industry on a firmer basis, for the vineyards receiving the best at- 

 tention were the ones that survived. The average yield per acre is 

 relatively high in the better developed sections of this territory, run- 

 ning from 2 to 2§ tons per acre in a good crop year along the Mis- 

 souri River and from If to 2J tons per acre in the Ozark section. 



Usual Methods of Sale. 



Less-than-carload shipments assume greater relative importance in 

 this territory than in other commercial sections, as much stock is 

 shipped on consignment to the many cities within a radius of a few 

 hundred miles. A considerable tonnage produced near the cities of 

 Omaha, Kansas City, or St. Louis is hauled direct to market by the 

 farmers. The most important commercial fact about this section is 

 that its shipments reach the markets at a time when they encounter 

 no competition from Michigan or New York stock and at a time 

 when the consuming public is beginning to ask for grapes. In the 

 leading sections an f. o. b. trade has been built up and most of the 

 carlot shipments are sold on the basis of " cash track " or of " usual 

 terms." 



In the section of Council Bluffs and Omaha the deal is practically 

 in the growers' hands, as a cooperative association controls a large 

 part of the acreage. In the other sections the bulk of the shipments 

 are handled by local buyers, who, in turn, make sales on an f. o. b. 

 basis whenever possible. 



