Wolfsen

The plaintiff in this action had judgment against the defendants for the sum of $660, for and on account of the death of 46 head of sheep, alleged to have been the result of the negligent spreading of poison in a certain field which the plaintiff had leased for pasturing sheep Also, for the loss of the pasturage on the leased field.

The record shows that the plaintiff had leased a certain tract of land in Merced County for the purpose of pasturing sheep thereon; that prior to the time the plaintiff turned his sheep on to the leased field the defendants, for the purpose of killing rodents, had distributed a considerable quantity of thallium poison thereon. The defendant Wheeler, at all the times mentioned in the complaint, was the agricultural commissioner of the county of Merced, and the defendant Benton was a regularly appointed deputy acting under the direction and orders of the defendant Wheeler.

A number of specifications of error are set forth as grounds for reversal. However, it is only necessary to con sider whether the defendants were negligent, whether the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, and the amount of the damages. The determination of these…