Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/456

398 enjoys a climate which, though still tropical, is most refreshing, especially in the winter months, to the invalid from the low-lands. Hence, it is much used as a health-station for those needing a change from the oppressive heat of the stations below the Ghauts, and also as the headquarters of a large body of troops. The difference of temperature, while it does not prevent the growth of tropical plants, enables the gardener to raise grains, vegetables, and fruits which cannot endure the heat of Madras. Wheat, potatoes, strawberries, and many excellent garden vegetables are abundant, in addition to the mangoes, guavas, melons, and other fruits of the plains.

The country around is well cultivated. Much of it is devoted to gardening, as Bangalore supplies not only its own population, but that also of the metropolis, with potatoes and vegetables, as well as wheat. Many of the drives about the city are very delightful. The roads are lined with shade-trees, the mango and the banyan often interlocking their branches in a leafy canopy above you; and the fields are divided by hedges of the gigantic aloe, with its mast-like flower-stem, surmounted by a pyramid of white blossoms; or your way leads you through