MARKETING EASTERN GRAPES. 53 



St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Omaha, and 

 Denver receive considerable home-grown stock very early in the 

 season, but the larger part of their supply is furnished by Michigan. 

 The standard blue varieties packed in 4-quart baskets are desired 

 by the trade, and little other stock appears on these markets. A 

 very limited quantity of Catawbas may be moved late in the season. 



In the southern markets — Jacksonville, Atlanta, Birmingham, 

 Memphis, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans — there is 

 no marked preference between the 2-quart and 4-quart baskets. 

 Shipments to these cities, shown in the Appendix, give no adequate 

 idea of their consuming capacity, as the short crop of 1918 restricted 

 the distribution to markets nearer the producing sections. None of 

 these markets can stand heavy receipts without a proportionately 

 marked drop in prices, but in the aggregate they represent an im- 

 portant outlet which should receive more attention. While the 

 Concord is the most popular grape in these cities, there is not so 

 much prejudice against red varieties as there is farther north. 



In the cities of the far West — Spokane, Seattle, Portland, Butte, 

 San Francisco, and Los Angeles — the receipts of grapes of European 

 varieties from California far exceed those of American varieties 

 or Eastern grapes. However, some Catawbas are raised in California 

 and find their way into the markets of Los Angeles and San Fran- 

 cisco, usually in 4-basket crates, and the other cities are supplied by 

 Washington with the Concord type of grapes. While Michigan 

 grapes have been shipped to the more northern of these cities, the 

 great bulk of the arrivals in Portland, Spokane, Seattle, and Butte 

 are shipped from neighboring producing sections, principally the 

 Yakima Valley. The Concord is the favorite grape of this type in 

 these markets, though other varieties usually sell well, and the 4- 

 quart basket is the common container, except in Portland, where 2- 

 quart baskets are used almost exclusively. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



THE PRINCIPLES. 



No phase of marketing perishable products is more important, 

 or holds greater possibilities for improvement, than the distribution 

 of shipments. It should be the aim of all shippers to supply ade- 

 quately the demand in neighboring consuming centers, up to the 

 point where further supplies would cause disastrous clogging of 

 the channels of trade. At this point or, under ideal conditions, 

 just before this point is reached, shipments would be made to other 

 cities more distant from the point of origin, even though higher 

 freight rates render such shipments relatively less profitable. 



