242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



In a comparatively new country where transportation facili- 

 ties are not well established certain varieties of crops will be 

 grown which later it will be found can be produced more eco- 

 nomically elsewhere and the ground devoted to some better pay- 

 ing crop. For example, flax and wheat were at one time ex- 

 tensively raised in New England, while now both crops are very 

 rare there. 



There is sometimes an unconscious shifting of farm activi- 

 ties that will not be noticed for a number of years and then can 

 be explained only on the ground of proper adjustment due to 

 climatic influence. 



One of the mbst interesting examples of this kind is the 

 division of the dairy industry in Wisconsin into definite cheese 

 making and definite butter making districts. This was pointed 

 out by Baker and Whitson in Bulletin 223 of the Wisconsin 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. 



At one time butter and cheese factories were scattered over 

 central and southern Wisconsin. Now, however, the commercial 

 cheese factories are concentrated into two well defined large dis- 

 tricts in southwestern and eastern Wisconsin, and two smaller 

 centers in the north-central and northwestern portions of the 

 State. The butter industry, on the other hand, occupies south- 

 eastern Wisconsin. 



By comparing the distribution of these two industries with 

 the climatic maps it develops that the commercial cheese factories 

 are almost exclusively within the region with less than 150 

 days in the growing season, while the commercial butter factories 

 are where the growing season is more than 150 days in length. 



It develops also that south of the mean summer" isotherm of 

 70° F. there are no cheese factories in Wisconsin, and that those 

 between the isotherms of 69° and 70° are not numerous and are 

 mostly small. The mean isotherm of 65° for the cheese making 

 season approximately bounds the cheese regions of the State on 

 the south. This adjustment is thought to be partly due to the 

 effect of the lower temperature on the quality of the cheese 

 product and partly to the effect of temperature upon the vegeta- 

 tion. 



