62 



The Rot in Sheep. 



The case narrated by Youatt is as follows : — " A farmer in 

 Norfolk bought a lot of sheep at a fair, warranted sound. The 

 greater part of them died of rot in the course of the winter. 

 The purchaser brought his action for the recovery of the money 

 paid for them. The defendant satisfactorily proved that he 

 never had had a rotten sheep on that part of the farm on which 

 these were bred and grazed. A considerable sum was spent in 

 litigation, when at length it was discovered that the night before 

 the sale — the whole town and its neighbouring pastures being 

 occupied — the sheep were turned into a field in a neighbouring 

 village, and which field bore a suspicious character with regard 

 to this disease. There was then little doubt on the mind of 

 either party that the mischief had been done on that night." 



In the discussion which followed the delivery of a Lecture on 

 Rot by ourselves, and which led to the original publication of 

 our essay in 1862, Mr. J. S. Turner, of Chynton, Sussex, a well- 

 known agriculturist, stated that he remembered a case of quick 

 contamination similar to those referred to. "In 1846 the late 

 Mr. Rogers, of Kingston, near Lewes, sold 200 ewes, which were 

 driven through the parish of Sherrington, when a dog ran at 

 one of them and broke its leg. The lame sheep was put into 

 the churchyard, and the others wandered on to Sherrington Com- 

 mon. About three months afterwards, the person to whom the 

 sheep were sold wrote to Mr. Rogers saying that the sheep were 

 all affected with the rot. They went to law about the matter, 

 and before going into Court the sheep left in the churchyard 

 was killed and found to be perfectly sound." 



Although it may seem unnecessary to multiply cases, still we 

 feel that two other instances of a similar kind, which have been 

 furnished us by another well-known agriculturist, Mr. Edward 

 Umbers, of Wappenbury, Warwick, should be placed on record. 

 Mr. Umbers writes thus : — 



" In the first place, I will relate a circumstance which occurred to my father 

 (the late Mr. W. Umbers), who was an eminent breeder of Leicester sheep. 

 At his first outset as a breeder he went into Leicestershire and purchased 

 twenty ewes, and sent them to a ram belonging to another breeder in the 

 same county. In due course my father received a letter stating that the ewes 

 were ready to come back, and requesting him to send for them ; the writer 

 added that one ewe was lame, and would require a horse and cart for her 

 removal. Accordingly, a careful man with a horse and cart was sent for the 

 ewes, and all were brought home safely. 



" In eleven weeks and three days after their arrival at home the shepherd 

 came to my father saying, ' One of the bought ewes is dead.' This was a source 

 of great disappointment, and when she came to be examined she proved to be 

 rotten. My father at once wrote to the person of whom he purchased the 

 ewes — they having been warranted sound — stating what had occurred. The 

 gentleman, in reply, invited my father to his house to make every inquiry, 

 he never having had a rotten sheep on his farm. My father went over and 



