The memory of man supplies no recollection of so wet a season as from
September 1824 to March 1825; it produced the _rot_ in sheep to an
alarming extent. In consequence of the animals being killed in this
disease, the mutton is unwholesome for human food, and produces
mortality even in dogs. The newspapers relate that such mutton given to
a kennel of dogs rendered them fat, till on a sudden their good looks
declined, they became lean, and gradually died, without any other cause
being assignable for the mortality, than the impure flesh of the sheep.
In such a season, therefore, families should shrink from the use of
mutton as from a pestilence. There is no security, but in entire
abstinence. Almost every hare shot during the same period had a tainted
liver. Under such circumstances _lamb_ should be sparingly used, and, if
possible, refrained from altogether, in order to secure mutton at a
reasonable price hereafter.