15 AUGUST 1952, Page 14

• Snz,—I agree with the right of Janus to say

what he likes about the prune, but I wonder if he has ever had them as we cook them in Scotland, that is: cooked slowly with sugar in the oven, and finally a good measure of port wine added. The absence of the latter (for obvious reasons) when served in school must have spoiled many people's taste for prunes. This compote used to be served to perfection in a hotel at the head of Loch Lomond, quite a Mecca for prune-lovers.

—Yours, &c., MARY C. SMITH. Gartness, West Common, Harpenden.