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Story: Arable farming

Ploughing on a grand scale, around 1910

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Ploughing on a grand scale, around 1910

This traction engine is pulling three three-furrow ploughs, which have been attached together. Setting up this contraption correctly would have been difficult, as each furrow has to be cut to the same depth. However, the amount of ground that could be ploughed in a day would have surpassed anything else at that time.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/1-009619-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.

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How to cite this page

Sue Zydenbos, Arable farming – Cultivation and planting, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/17581/ploughing-on-a-grand-scale-around-1910 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Sue Zydenbos, published 1 March 2009.