The bog areas of Emsland District, consisting of Ostfriesland Leer, Cloppenburg, Bersenbruck, and
Bentheim Counties, covering the entire North-West of Germany, had been considered uninhabitable
since the 1700s. There was vast peat bogs but they were buried under 5 or 6 feet of sandy soil
These behemoths are Traction Engines(TEs), built in 1953. They have welded boilers making 300 psi
superheated steam to power a 2 cylinder engine, producing 500 horsepower and tons of torque.
Note hanging under the middle is a huge cable reel with a guide arm sticking out the side.
This is a deep plow capable of reaching down 8 feet to bring up peat to mix with the soil on top, providing
nutrients for growing crops. You’d think the bigass wheel was for traveling over the ground, but it’s actually
a pivot to rock one side or the other down to the working position. That way they don’t have to turn the
plow around. Big deal, you say? Why can’t the tractor just make a u-turn like everywhere else?
Because the soil won’t permit that heavy tractor to pull the plow.
They took 4 of those 500 hp monsters, 2 on each side of the field, and pulled the plow with cables. If they
used 2 tractors, the plow could wander all over, but with 4 tractors forming an X with the cables, they can
control the plow to go where they want.
Starting in 1953, they plowed 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, from Easter to October, for the next 20 years.
Fortunately the German arm of Monsanto and of DuPont didn’t move to kill the Emsland Plan.
I won't bother with the links because they were all in German, but Google is your friend.
Originally I was going to put this in the machinery thread, but I spent too goddamn many hours on it.