307] BUTTER-PRODUCING AREAS 83 



in the butter. The western butter for a long time was said 

 to have a " wild flavor " owing to the poor grass the cows 

 were allowed to eat. 1 On the other hand, the soil and 

 topography of Orange County, New York, were believed 

 to possess peculiarly favorable characteristics for the pro- 

 duction of dairy products. Vermont also believed for some 

 time that its possibilities could not be equaled by western 

 sections. In 1870 the Secretary of the Vermont Dairy 

 Association said that " our neighbors of the north-west 

 . . . have by the most persistent effort, by the most ex- 

 tended experiments, and the most vigorous researches, over- 

 come obstacles, which we have, perhaps fondly, believed in- 

 surmountable ". 2 



The dominating force that caused farmers to begin dairy- 

 ing in sections where this type of farming became special- 

 ized was not a special adaptability of the soil but the de- 

 mand for the dairy products as compared with the demand 

 for other products that it could produce. The dominating 

 force was therefore an economic factor. The nature of the 

 soil and topography were secondary and indirect causes of 

 the distribution of dairying. After transportation was de- 

 veloped and the great plains of the West were opened for 

 the production of beef and wheat, the eastern states could 

 of course no longer afford to raise cattle, sheep, and grain 

 to the exclusion of the production of dairy products. The 

 former products could be raised at much lower cost on the 

 cheap and level stretches of western land, while in the 

 eastern sections the dairy products were in growing demand 

 owing to an increasing urban population, and in conse- 

 quence brought greater profits to the farmer than the pro- 



1 Article in N. Y. Tribune, copied by Ohio Agricultural Report for 

 1858, p. 299. 



2 Essay by O. S. Bliss, in Report of the Vermont Dairy Association 

 for 1870. 



