84 THE BUTTER INDUSTRY IN UNITED STATES [308 



duction of other products. The area at the present time 

 supplying the city of Chicago with milk for fresh consump- 

 tion, it is noticed, does not extend southward very far into 

 the level stretches of Illinois, but rather northward into 

 Wisconsin. 1 South of Chicago there are vast level stretches 

 of very fertile land which is principally devoted to raising 

 corn, and which brings a larger income than if it were de- 

 voted to dairying. The section of the country northward 

 into Wisconsin is less suited to raising corn. The yield of 

 corn on this land is lower 2 and the labor to produce corn, 

 because of its uneven topography, considerably higher than 

 in central Illinois. The influence of the soil upon the geo- 

 graphic distribution of the dairy industry is a negative one 

 and not a positive one. When sections of the country 

 remote from cities are rich in fertility and are level, mak- 

 ing possible their cultivation at low cost, they will be de- 

 voted to the raising of grains, tobacco, etc. Specialized 

 dairying is here excluded. These tracts could, as far as the 

 adaptability of the soil is concerned, sow the land to artificial 

 grasses and probably produce more butter than the more 

 rolling sections. In view of the fact, however, that on 

 these plains a rotation system of grain farming is more 

 practical than specialized dairying, the farmer is bound to 

 continue so long as the relative demand for agricultural 

 products is not changed by a shifting of the urban centers 

 of population and by the raising of grain in newer countries 

 where the amount of capital invested in the land would be 

 much less. 



It is probably true that the cow was consciously used in 

 numerous instances to fertilize the land impoverished by 



1 Bulletin 138, Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. 



2 The average yield for Wisconsin as a whole is lower by over a 

 bushel per acre than that of Illinois. Vide, Agricultural Yearbook. 



