The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1955-01-13
Ohio Youth ell
OfVisit TO lndia

Of VISIT 1 O gE16gd
Indian and Pakistani farmers
were quite impressed that two
American farm boys would live
in their houses, sleep on their
beds and eat their food, Ohio's
two returning IFYE's reported.
Guy Hummon II, Wooster, and
Walter Miller, Montpelier, In
ternational Farm Youth Ex-
change delegates, are home for
Christmas after living months
with farm families in India and
Pakistan respectively. They
slept on mats on the floor or on
rope beds covered with a thin
blanket or sheet.
The bed is the main piece of
furniture in the Indian and PAX
istani farm homes. They sit on
1t, sleep on it, eat on it, and they
carry it with them to the fields
for their siesta. Miller found the
crisscross ropes tightly stretched
across a wooden frame "surpris-
ingly comfortable"
Hummon was impressed by
the difference in living space
between India and the United
States. Here we have machines
and try to keep up with the ma
chimes he said. There everything
is slow.
Indians are very hospitable,
he said. Even the poor families
offer visitor a cup Of tea. When
strangers come they feed him
and invite him to stay over night.
They don't like for outsiders
to come in and tell them how to
run their country or encroach
on their religion. They aren't
violent toward outsiders, be-
cause that's against their reli-
gion. Their religion conflicts
with communism though, Miller
and Hummon stated.
They were quite impressed by
luminous pictures of expert
mental plots at the Ohio Agri-
cultural Experiment Station and
by Miller's seed planting de-
monstration Hummon showed
pictures of fertilized plots be-
side unfertilized plots. Indian
farmers are starting to use
chemical fertilizer.
Miller took a seed for demo-
cracy' packet to Pakistan with
him. 1t contained cabbage, cauli-
flower and pepper seeds. He
| planted these in rows and COW
cred them while villagers wat
ched. Villagers then planted
some of the same seeds by scat
tering them on top OF the ground
as they usually do. Miller's
plants were 3 or 4 inches tall by
the time the villagers plants had
started to germinate. They were
quite impressed, he said.
Il couldn't have told them to
plant seeds in rows and got them
to do it," he said, but after
they saw this they began to try
row planting" The illiterate
people won't try anything until
they see it work, and 70 percent
Of the people in Pakistan are
illiterate. Both Pakistan and
India recognize that expanding
their education is one of their
biggest problems, both IFYEs
reported.
Pakistani are very proud of
their free country, Miller said
| They'll live and die for it and
their religion, he added. Pakis-
tan is densely populated-762
i people per square mile in East
Pakistan and 1872 per square mile
in West Pakistan United States
averages so people per square
mile.
East and West Pakistan have
entirely different climate. West
Pakistan is desert, while East
Pakistan has floods, Their com
mon religion holds them TO-
gether even though they are sep
arated by 1000 miles of India
There are no rail links between
the two parts. They rely on aiI
and water travel.
Men and women live apart ex-
cept in the very poor families
where the houses are so small
it isn't possible. Marriage are
arranged by the parents ano
sometimes the bride and groom
do not see each other before the
| ceremony. Multiple marriages