306 
The late William Torr. 
farm was thoroughbred, even game-fowl ; and his half-wihl 
flying black ducks were carefully brought down to weigh no 
more than a teal, and pitilessly condemned if they showed a 
single white feather. 
A writer in the 'Agricultural Gazette'* has well observed, "But 
the live-stock of the farm did not monopolize his active mind, for 
his leisure moments were frequently occupied in devising im- 
provements in farm-implements. Among other achievements in 
this direction, he invented one of the first convex mould-board 
ploughs, long celebrated as the W. T. plough ; a farm-gate which 
won the prize of the local committee at the Warwick Meeting of 
the Royal Agricultural Society in 1859 ; a pig-trough that was 
patented by Messrs. Crosskill, of Beverley ; and a spring waggon, 
an old specimen of which was the lightest in draught of those com- 
peting for the Royal Agricultural Society's Prizes at Manchester 
in 1869. The original of this waggon gained the 20Z. prize 
offered by the North Lincolnshire Agricultural Society at their 
Gainsborough Show in 1845." He aimed at doing everything 
on his farms, from the form of a hedge to the fashion of a gate, 
in the best possible manner. 
But with this minute attention to details, as minute as .on a 
fancy or model farm, carried out with restless energy, he was as far 
as possible from a stay-at-home, ring-fence farmer. He probably 
travelled more and farther, on horseback, by sea, and by land, 
than any farmer of his generation. His extraordinary energy, 
his universal agricultural knowledge, the fluency and force of his 
tongue — whether in conversation, or in a set speech, or in debate 
— were, indeed, something truly astounding to a stranger. 
He was seen to most advantage at home ; as a host, he enter- 
tained continually from every part of the kingdom, and of the 
world ; and seemed never tired of feeding and lecturing, not only 
his friends, but his friends' friends and most distant acquaint- 
ances, if only they loved agriculture and listened to his clever 
dissertations. He did not always please. He was too positive and 
too prejudiced to be popular ; but he impressed everyone with a 
sense of his ability, and conquered the prejudices of m^any when 
they shared his bountiful and old-fashioned hospitality. He never 
wrote anything ; for he entertained " strong objections to every- 
thing in the shape of paper farming ;" but he would have made 
a most popular Professor of Agriculture, had Oxford indulged in 
such a luxury ; and the shorthand writers have fortunately pre- 
served for our use his instructive practical lecture on " Sheep 
versus Cattle," from which the above quotation has been 
drawn.f 
• December 19th, 1874, p. 1627. 
t ' Joum. Roy. Agric. Soc.,' Second Series, vol. ii. p. 519. 
