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 2J 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. 
