"ANTHROPOSOPHY"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 203, 20 April 1932, Page 2

"ANTHROPOSOPHY"

GERMAN PHILOSOPHER'S NEW TEACHINGS IN FARM ' SCIENCE EX-NEW ZEALANDER'S SUPPORT Captain Grange I. Kirkcaldy (formerly of Dunedin), recently resigned his commission in the Black Watch and retired from the army in order to start farming a property which he bought in Rhynie, in Aber-. deenshire, two years ago. Some people may think the times unpropitious to go on the land, but Captain Kirkcaldy personally believes that there never was'a period when the developxhent and cultivation of the soil was more important, and when a new impulse was required for agriculture. This impulse he and Mrs. Kirkcaldy believe to have been inspired through the teaching of Dr. Rudolph Steiner, the philosopher, who developed tiie science of anthroposophy, which throws a new light on man's spiritual being and his relationship to the universe. Dr. Steiner's teachings, as his disciples are aware, give freslx conceptions of agriculture — to mention four sides of daily practical life. In agriculture he teaches how to treat the soil as a living organism which actually breathes, and not as being merely chemically constituted, as modern seientific teaching, and intensive farming methods would have one believe. The influences of the moon and the planets npon plant life are studied and nsed. But ehexnical f ertilisers and artificial manures are ta'bu, becanse they are believed to contribute to animal and human disease. On the other hand, farmyard manure, compost made of vegetable and animal refuse, and certain extracts of herbs are nsed to inerease in plants the life forces which malce them grow. The system is now being praetised to a considerable extent in Germany, axxd it is, one understands, not unknown in New Zealand. Captain and Mrs. Kirkcaldy have three daughters, the eldest, now in her tenth year, being a pnpil at the Rudolph Steiner School (The New School), at Streatham, in south-west London, of which flonrishing eentre Miss Melland, of Dunedin, has been secretary for over »five years. Lady Robertson Nicoll (mother of Mrs. Kirkcaldy), has recently -written her reminiseences, entitled "Bells of Memory." The hook is dedicated to her three little grand-daughters, and was originally intended for private cireulation only. Captain Kirkcaldy has been writing articles for Scottish papers on shooting, fishing, sport and agriculture in Scotland.