42 BULLETIN 861, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
Quality of Pack. 
The conditions of production on the whole are very good in this 
State, as careful cultivation, fertilization, pruning, and spraying are 
practiced. Michigan is singularly free from insect pests, but the 
black rot is troublesome and at times causes serious loss. Almost 
without exception, table stock is shipped in the 4-quart basket, which 
has become the standard Michigan container. The baskets are 
packed in the field, directly from the vines, and a good pack is gen- 
erally turned out. There is much local discussion as to the relative 
quality of the pack of cooperative associations, of independent 
growers, and of the stock sold on the street markets. Usually the 
pack of the associations is slightly superior. The relative quality of 
Michigan and New York shipments is another much-discussed point, 
for shippers from New York claim to put up a much more fancy 
product. The fact that Pittsburgh and Chicago, the two most im- 
portant markets where the shipments come into direct competition, 
consistently pay a slight premium for the New York stock would 
seem to corroborate this, but it is doubtful whether the difference 
is not more fancied than real, for while the Michigan stock has been 
improving in recent years, it is believed by impartial observers that 
the quality of the New York pack in general has been deteriorating. 
The Climax baskets used in Michigan are often of coarse stock 
and do not present such an attractive appearance as the New York 
baskets. Many Michigan shippers refuse to label the baskets, al- 
though this costs only about one- fourth of a cent and usually se- 
cures a premium of 1 to 3 cents per basket. These shippers have not 
conducted such an active campaign of advertisement of the quality 
of their stock as have the New York factors. Another cause for this 
market preference is that many Champions, a variety of very low 
quality, have been shipped from Michigan. Growers have come to 
realize that this variety has a depressing effect on the general de- 
mand for Michigan stock and are rapidly replacing the Champion 
with the Concord. If those interested in the Michigan industry 
would pay more attention to these points, there seems no reason why 
the trade should not come to recognize fully the high quality of the 
stock from this State. 
Market Outlets and Distribution. 
While New York has been diverting its grapes from table stock to 
wine and juice manufacture during the past few years, Michigan has 
been developing new markets and a system of extensive and intensive 
distribution, unequaled in the grape industry farther east. The 
