VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
7 44 
plaintiff last year to attend to these lambs, and continued to do so up to 
March last. When they came they were not in very good condition. 
They had bad coughs, and nine of them were obliged to be separated 
from the others the morning after they arrived. Most of them lingered 
away and died. He fed them constantly with grass and Swedes. There 
was plenty of keep when the lambs were first brought, and the farm was 
“ all fresh and growing.” There had been no other sheep upon it the 
whole of the summer. There was plenty of food, but they could not 
eat it. Many of them died soon after they were brought there. Some 
were opened, when thread-worms were found in their lungs and froth 
running down their windpipes. He had never seen such complaints before 
ail the time he had been a shepherd. He had afterwards pointed out the 
state of the lambs to Mr. Rigden, but he turned round and would not 
look at them. Fifty-one of the lambs died whilst in his care, all of the 
same complaint. Nothing else could be done for them than he did. 
He attended the lambs after Mr. Stevens left, at the request of the 
defendant. This was after the lambs were taken from the farm. 
In cross-examination the witness admitted he had told Mr. Rigden 
that his master would not allow him to give some of the sheep more hay. 
Those driven out had all the hay they wanted. 
Re-examined.—They had plenty of other food, but they had “ that 
upon them,” that hay would not save their lives. 
Mr. G. Wedgood stated that on the 1st March last his father took 
possession of “Bat’s Farm,” Hamsey Green, of Mr. Stevens, when his 
father paid plaintiff £32 for the feed of the lambs up to that time. 
As, however, Mr. Rigden would not pay the money afterwards, they 
applied to Mr. Stevens, and the money was returned. The lambs were 
in very poor condition at this time, and eight of them died during the 
month before they were taken away. 
By his Lordship —There was plenty of feed for them on the farm, 
independent of the stack of hay mentioned. 
Mr. G. Horsey , a farmer at Warlingham, was called as a witness to 
the bad condition of the lambs when they were on the plaintiff’s farm. 
Joseph Gatland, labourer, in the service of Mr. Wedgwood, Mr. G. 
Smith, of Warlingham Court Farm, Mr. R. Jarvis, Mr. R. W. Fuller, 
land surveyor and estate agent, of Croydon (who valued the stock on 
the farm when Mr. Stevens left). Mr. P. T. Holdsworth, Henry Cowler, 
labourer, William Alderson (bailiff to Mr. Thompson, at Brasted, near 
Sevenoaks), and John Ashton (veterinary surgeon), were called as 
witnesses in support of the plaintiff's case. Their evidence went to show 
that the lambs in question had been well managed by Mr. Stevens, that 
they were suffering from “the marsh disease,” which Mr. Ashton (the 
veterinary surgeon) considered was incurable, as worms in sheep were, 
he thought, brought on by atmospheric causes, and did not so much 
depend upon the description of food given to the animals. 
This was the plaintiff’s case. 
Mr. Prentice then addressed the jury for the defence, and called 
Mr. John Stanbridge , farmer and valuer, residing at Worth, Sussex, 
who stated that he had for twenty years been engaged for gentlemen in 
the letting out of their sheep. In August last he made an agreement 
with plaintiff for the care of a number of lambs belonging to Mr. Rigden, 
which went there on the first September. He saw them on Hamsey 
Common, at Warlingham, in October; they then seemed to be going on 
well, lie again saw them about five or six weeks after, when their 
value was much less per head. They were feeding on turnips, with 
much top but very little bottom to them. He then complained to the 
