Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-27

ItSAFfEI VI ANtlntiltd. AT 81.
~ EliZabeth's Hospital, is TO
be found the largest and
most remarkable Federal
owned herd of dairy cattle in the
United States.
This institution. with more than
5000 people, presents the aspect of a
small village. Apparently the ques-
ton of milk for all need never be a
problem, for the hospitals COWS fur
nish it with 6.00o pints of milk a day.
What an extraordinary output,
one involuntarily eXclaims. When we
consider that the average amount Of
milk given daily by each COW in this
herd is two and one-fourth times the
average daily production of any other
cattle in this country. it is easily un-
derstood that this unusually high pro
duction is due to the efforts in the
realm of scientific dairyine. over a
period of years, of DIR. William A.
White. superintendent of st. Eliza
beth's Hospital. and DIR. John P. Tur-
ner a Washington veterinarian.
Up to the present time this most
profitable venture in dairying has re-
ceived little or no attention from the
public: nevertheless, from 1900 up
through the years DIR. Turner has
gone on working quietly and intel
ligently for the naturalization of his
dream-a model dairy herd with
high production of milk. In fact, all
Westinghouse are indebted to him,
FOR he is the man who organized The
milk inspection for the District of Co
lunbia. BY his scientific feeding and
breeding of these cows over d period
of 81 years, he has built up a herd
enviable the world over for the eX-
tremely high poundage of its milk.
DIR. White throughout his "a years
of service with the hospital has been
a most enthusiastic hacker of this
dairy farm. His position is more far
reaching than the average person
realizes, for, in addition to performing
his own duties, he must needs know
intimately the working of every cog
of his tremendous institution. st.
IZlizabeth's Hospital is a big PROPOSE
ton to handle. With 1917 patients
ard 1900 employees. its own gardens,
chicken farm, dairy farm and various
other self-supporting phases. it can he
seen at a glance that the man who
superintends this hospital must know
more than pSychiatrX. 1t is neces-
sary for him to be an intelligent man
ager. and, what is more. he must I'M
derstand what every one connected
with his institution is trying to do.
And DIR, White does have his finger
on the pulse of the entire institution.
Having studied a variety of sub
jects in addition to the one which he
made his life's work he thus has a
vital interest in dairying and agri-
culture, thoroughly understands what
Is being done and assists in these
branches as much as the limited
amount of time from his own line of
work will permit Those connected
with the dairy farm stated that by
his enthusiastic cooperation and sym
pathy with their project he has done
his utmost to help them every step
of the way.
70
- L has continually been the aim of
the institution to make its dairy
farm a self supporting proposition"
Sald Monte Sanger, assistant to the
superintendent, land to do this we
have always borne i'm mind the ne
cessity of removing disease from the
nerd, having clean milk and running
the dairy on profitable basis In
1910. when the herd was averaging
$500 pounds of milk per animal a
year, we thought we were setting a
high goal when we aimed to get
5000 pounds year. Now, the year
~ average of our herd is 10000
pounds, which means that we have
just tripled our original output, and
today If COW does not measure UP
TO this new standard she is imme-
diately disposed OF. We have sue
ceeded in surprising our own expec- |
tations.''
The story of our dairy farm DIR. |
Turner explained, began back in |
1900, when amad dog went through |
the st. Elizaheth's Hospital grounds. |
The cows We're bitten; eight out of
ten died, and the Department of Ag-
riculture pronounced 1t rabies In
investigating this affair it was found
that some of the herd had tubercu-
losis. The tuberculin test was given
and the herd was cleaned out. Since
that time the herd has been tested
% times in u years. the first year
IT was tested every six months
Seventy mine out of 1870 had TO be
killed to get~rid of tuberculosis: then
we bought scrub" cows to build up
the herd. The last tuberculosis was
found in the herd in 1910 and since