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 
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