WITH THE KINEMA.

Putaruru Press, 5 January 1928, Page 3

WITH THE KINEMA.

A SCIENCE TEACHER. Research and Practice. The agriculture of this era, if it is anything, is scientific, and the major problem of scientific agriculture is to find how best to get the science from the laboratory to the land. There is no longer any question of the success of science. In slaughtering pets, or in producing many devices for the enriching of harvests it has done something, but not too much of the slaughtering goes on in the test tubes, and the harvests, in too many cases, arc the dream harvests of specialists and not the stacked, three dimensional, £l2-an acre harvests of the plain everydav fermer. The trouble, of course, is with the link. On the one hand, you have the research man. It is his job to discover. But it is not specially his duty to leave his work desk and go around on education tour. On the other hand, you have the practical man. His job is to farm. It is not specially his business to go wasting time sniffing about the odours of research stations. So far, despite the many efforts to bring the two together, no satisfactory system has been devised for translating quickly and effectively the language of the one into the language of the other. The difficult expositions of our agricultural journals are, of course, no answer. None but a small proportion of farmers can stand the headache of ploughing the ideas out of them. The work of the Department of Agriculture is only part of the answer. Instructors too, get lost in the wide spaces between. Never reall in touch with the research stations, and unable to compass the onormotis job of vitalising and modernising the agriculture of an entire area, they are at best interpreters between strangers. They read the wise words of the research men and pass these along as occasion offers and as human fallibility permits. But this is only half a contact. It is indirect. It is, to a large extent, casual and spasmodic. Why not have* the whole research business put down in a way the farmer can both understand and appreciate— i simply, vitally and practically—and Y place it where the farmer can get at it? Why not hand on to him attractively and as early as possible the discoveries which are meant for his special benefit? Research is for him. Why not then do everything possible to perfect the link between science and practice? The X of this equation is, the kinematograph. The kinenia can illustrate the devious and devastating ways of all the pests in the Book of Pests. It can picture them in tooth and claw,“and magnify them to the proportion of ravaging wolves. Not even the dullest imagination can fail to grasp their danger. It can illustrate the effects of one chemical treatment or another and indicate simply the reasons. It can show the effect on soils, on crops, or on stock.. It can record a plain and vivid progression of special developments in feeding, and illustrate the various problems which affect the breeder. Sitting back with other farmers before a picture of ar-

everything worth his notice in experiment or practice, whether it be in the region of farm organisation or of marketing. The point is that “movies" are the one language for the practical man. Pictures are easy. They are vivid, and there is little which they cannot illustrate, be it schoolroom problem or practical proposition. And besides extending the farmer's horizon, they provide the best basis for effective discussion.

The question of using the films for agricultural education and for demonstrating experiment is beginning to excite the powers in England, where there are several signs of the development of an agricultural kinema service. The matter requires attention in all quarters, and it is suggested here that the possibilities of an agricultural kinema service, for the purpose of interpreting science for the practical man be investigated without delay. Science in the laboratory is good, but science on the land is better.