This painting of a Māori pā, from 1845, illustrates how quickly Māori agriculturalists adopted the potato. Potatoes produced much heavier crops than kūmara (sweet potato), their main traditional crop, and they kept well. Many grew them on a commercial scale. These potatoes are being grown behind fences to keep wild pigs out.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
A-079-031
Watercolour by Cyprian Bridge
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Tāpiritia te tākupu hou