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Show G.I. Youth Gives Germans Novel Farming Lesson Deep in the heart of occupied Germany a thriving sample of Indiana In-diana agriculture provides a novel lesson in American farming methods meth-ods for people of the war-ravaged country. A Midwest home demonstration demon-stration agent and a G.I. youth on occupation duty pooled their efforts and ideas to show nearly 100 German Ger-man youths how to be good farmers while augmenting their meager diet by using vegetables grown by themselves. them-selves. Pfc. Birch Bayh Jr. of Vigo county, Indiana, is the American soldier and Miss Mildred Schlosser is the home demonstration agent who are responsible for the project. Bayh, 19-year-old Hoosier farmer, qualifies as an able instructor by virtue of his past record. Two years ago, as a contestant in the annual production - marketing contest ol National Junior Vegetable Growers association, Bayh was tilling a seven-acre plot on his grandfather's farm, where he raised crops worth ' more than $1,677. The crops were ' so good, Bayh sent a special batch to his father, Lt. Col. Birch Bayh of the U. S. army, then stationed in China. In the national contest, Bayh's 1 efficient operation rated so high he won the Midwest regional NJVGA title and a $200 scholarship from the $6,000 in contest awards pro- vided annually by A & P food j stores. Using this fund to augment j his savings, Bayh entered Purdue ! university where his studies were interrupted by a call to army duty, j Later he was assigned to the German Ger-man occupation forces. Impressed by the soil near his station in that country, and encouraged encour-aged by seeds sent as a gift to him by Miss Schlosser, home demonstration demon-stration agent and NJVGA advisor of his Indiana club, Bayh quickly recruited nearly 100 youngsters in his area and started a garden proj- J ect. He divided his land into 45 in-1 dividual plots with two children as-1 ' signed to each. The young growers were given a" series of lessons in 1 American methods, tilling, planting I and weeding. The results of their ! efforts are already evident, with a 1 bumper crop of tomatoes and corn 1 well tn its way to maturity. Most of these products are new to the youths, but they Indicate that they'll cat them with pleasure. |