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Kōrero: Arable farming

Threshing machine and traction engine, about 1900

Image
Threshing machine and traction engine, about 1900

Until the invention of the tractor, threshing machines were driven by traction engines by means of a large leather belt. The horse in the foreground is hauling a sledge stacked with sheaves, which have been taken off a grain stack. The sheaves were unloaded and forked into the thresher. This removed the grain from the straw and husks, and fed it into bags, which were sewn up by hand. An elevator lifted the straw onto a stack.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, W. McRae Collection

Reference: 1/2-066409; G

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Sue Zydenbos, Arable farming – Ploughing and harvesting, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/17573/threshing-machine-and-traction-engine-about-1900 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Sue Zydenbos, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.