Pig ignorant
Sir: I have just read Simon Courtauld's piece (Notebook, 18 February) about the current shortage of truffles. He says that pigs will sniff out truffles 'quite naturally'. I wonder whether this is so.
Some years ago, some friends and I took a fully grown and athletic pig by Dormobile from Virginia Water to the Savernake Forest, near Marlborough. It did not appear strained by the journey, and arrived in the Forest in a rested condition. We had supposed that the fine beech trees in the area would make it excellent truffling country.
We put our pig on quite a long leash (which irritated it a bit); and helpfully gave it the scent from a small tin of truffles from Fortnum's. But at no point in the subsequent 'hunt' did the animal show the slightest interest in rooting for anything, despite our repeated and insistent cries of encouragement. It quickly snapped its leash, and then harassed several harmless walkers with its uncontrollable and unpleasant snuffling. It took some time to recapture the pig. BY the time we had all returned to Surrey, all of us, in our-different ways, were exhausted by our pointless exertion. All that the expedition had demonstrated was that not all pigs are interested in truffles. But perhaps Mr Courtauld has had some more recent and successful experiences with them?
M. S. R. Cozens
8 Bowden Hill, Lacock, Wiltshire
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