315] BUTTER-PRODUCING AREAS gi 



natural ice becomes cheaper farther north because housing 

 ice is less expensive. 



So far, then, as the necessary refrigeration in the cream- 

 ery or at outlying skimming and receiving stations is con- 

 cerned, the warm dairy section is not under a very much 

 greater disadvantage than is the cold region. To be sure 

 refrigeration in warm regions has to be applied for a 

 longer time throughout the year than in cold regions, but 

 at the time both regions use refrigeration the cost is about 

 the same. The great disadvantage, however, is felt on the 

 farm, and while the milk or cream is being transported to 

 the creamery. To keep the cream or milk on the farm in 

 the southern states as long as it is kept in Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota it would be necessary to use ice on each farm. 

 This would be an expensive practice. Mechanical refriger- 

 ation is the cheapest method in most latitudes of the United 

 States for use in the creamery, but the installation of a re- 

 frigerating plant on each farm would raise the cost of keep- 

 ing dairy products on the average-sized farm much higher 

 than the usual cost of this part of dairying in northern lati- 

 tudes. It is of course possible to effect an organization 

 whereby each farmer can be supplied with ice from a cen- 

 tral manufacturing plant every day and his milk or cream 

 taken to a central point for churning. This, however, com- 

 pared with regions where it is not necessary, means in- 

 creased cost. 



INFLUENCE OF CITIES 



In regions where the soil, topography, and climate are 

 favorable to dairying, the force that causes specialization 

 in the production of fresh milk or butter and cheese, is the 

 influence of the city. In other words, the causes that dif- 

 ferentiate the city-milk-producing area, are the demand for 

 fresh milk, the demand for hay and forage to feed draught 



