86 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1888 

To the Editor. 
COFFEE FOB HIGH ELEVATIONS. 
Soerabaya, 5th June 1888. 
Sir, — Can any of your readers assist me with 
the following information ? 
Js there any known variety of coffee which will 
grow well and bear freely at an elevation of 
from 5,000 to 6,000 feet ? Our Java coffee will grow 
at 5,000 feet and bear fairly also ; but the growth 
of the shrubs is very slow indeed. 
Would the " Coorg" and "Mysore" varieties do 
well at those elevations?" Can any of your readers 
send me some chosen seed of those two varieties 
by post ? I should like to make a trial of them 
here and can plant them almost at any elevation, 
if those sending me some will mention the best 
height. 
Can I reciprocate in any way from here, your 
friends have merely to mention how. — Yours faith- 
fully, T. C. W. 
[Had coffee only remained free of disease in 
Ceylon, we should have recommended seed from 
some of our higher districts, the plant being 
cultivated close to 6,000 feet successfully before 
the leaf fungus fully developed. Now, we should 
say seed from the higher estates on the Nilgiris 
would do best, and if any of our readers care to 
accept T. C. W.'s offer about reciprocating, we shall be 
glad to give our correspondent's full name and 
address on application. — Ed.] 
CEYLON TEAS FALLING OFF IN QUALITY. 
Cheltenham, 15th June 1888. 
Sir, — I make the following quotation from the 
market report of the London Times of 8th instant, and 
I may say that for some months past I have seen 
from time to time unfavourable notices of Ceylon 
tea in the market reports of the same paper : — 
" The feature in the catalogue has been the 
increased quantity of Ceylon tea * * * the bulk 
being only ordinary in quality, and from some estates 
comparatively undesirable ; the average prices are 
consequently less encouraging, and in order to 
compete with the Indian growths it is more than even 
necessary to produce a liquor brisk and altogether 
free from burntness, so many Ceylon teas being 
disliked now on account of the dulness and burnt 
flavour they possess." 
In the Overland Observer dated, I think, 19th 
March last, there was a letter on the subject 
of Ceylon tea, written from England and 
signed " W. W." I have neither preserved 
the paper nor the letter, but I remember 
that the writer asserted deterioration in the 
general character of our Ceylon teas. He quoted 
the opinion of an experienced dealer that they had 
not maintained their character for flavour or for 
strength. The same dealer was said to have alleged 
that they are soft, and this, I think, the writer 
explained as meaning that they become fiat, dull, 
and flavourless when kept for any length of time. 
If I remember " W. W." said that his own ex- 
perience supported, or went some way towards 
supporting, the assertions of his friend the dealer. 
It may, perhaps, be worth while to state what 
has been my own experience since I came home. 
In January last I applied for samples of Ceylon 
tea to a London firm connected with Ceylon, 
gentlemen who may be depended on to sell pure 
Ceylon tea at fair prices. They sent me four 
samples, one of which was a high-grown tea of 
good reputation, and the others, if I mistake not, were 
mixtures of high-grown and low-grown blended for 
the gratification of the common consumer of this 
country. All these teas were to my taste so 
flavourless, that I had no inclination to buy even 
a few pounds of any one of them. In April last I 
tried again to get Ceylon tea to my liking. I 
applied, to another firm of tea dealers who may 
be depended on to supply pure Ceylon tea. These 
gentlemen sent me about half-a-dozen samples, of 
which three were marks I particularly inquired 
for and marks which are of the first rank in Ceylon. 
All these teas were to my taste dull and wanting 
in flavour. I somewhat reluctantly bought a little 
of one well-known mark, a high-grown tea, but I 
may safely assert that it is very inferior in flavour 
to tea of the same mark which I was accustomed 
to use in Ceylon, The dealers in reply to my com- 
plaints wrote saying that good flavouring Ceylon 
teas were not procurable at that time, but promised 
to send me a sample of such if they met with it. 
I have not heard from them since. 
I pretend not to any skill as a taster of tea. 
I speak merely as a layman who acquired a 
taste for Ceylon tea in Ceylon and used it there 
for many years. Howbeit, I think this a notable 
fact, that a Ceylon planter in England, who, in 
the quest for Ceylon tea, may be considered to 
have some special advantages, is unable to find 
it to his taste. 
It can scarcely be disputed that with the great 
increase of quantity the quality of our teas has 
degenerated. Might not the matter be profitably 
taken into consideration by the Planters' Associa- 
tion and the district Associations ? 
I hope the time may soon come when people 
shall be able to buy a pound of fine Ceylon tea 
in any good grocer's shop, but the time is not 
yet; J. H. CAMPBELL. 
COLOMBO MILK. 
Wiesbaden, 51, Kollupitiya Boad, 
27th June 1888. 
Sir, — I send you the results of an investigation 
into the composition of Colombo milk, — a subject 
which must possess interest for many of your 
readers. The analyses made were carried only so 
far as is customary with a view to ascertain 
whether samples of milk are genuine or adulterated. 
It was necessary, in the first place, to obtain 
samples of milk known to be genuine, in order 
to ascertain between what limits the amounts of 
the different constituents might be expected to 
vary. Analyses Nos. 1 to 5 represent the com- 
position of genuine milk from cows fed upon 
more than one kind of food. Sample No. 6 was 
obtained by a trustworthy servant who reported 
that the milk was from a cow fed upon grass only. 
Besides the chemical analyses, I have given, in 
tabular form, a few other particulars in connec- 
tion with these samples of genuine cow's milk : — 
No. 1. 
No. 2. 
No. 3. 
Specific gravity 
1-029 
1-030 
1-032 
Fat 
297 
2-11 
5-57 
Sugar and casein 
7-49 
7-73 
866 
Salts 
•60 
•76 
•77 
Total solids . . 
11-06 
1060 
15-00 
Water 
88-94 
89-4 
85-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
Solids-not-fat.. 
8-09 
8-49 
9-43 
Age of calf . . 
. 4 months 
7 months 
1 month 
Grass, cot- 
Grass, cot- 
Grass 
Food of cow ■ . 
ton seed 
ton seed 
and 
and poonac, and boiled poonac. 
rice. 
