MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 573 



Their history from this date has bcca one of steady if not CH. XXXI. 

 of rapid progress. Nor can it be doubted that they have given an ~7T, 

 impetas to horticulture in general, and have been the means of tube. 

 introducing and propagating a large number of useful as well as 

 ornamental plants and shrubs which have been sent to many 

 ditferent parts of India. In 1856 the Government of India 

 sanctioned a monthly sum of Rupees 50 and free carriage for 

 plants and seeds to and from Calcutta. 



As the gardens progressed the cultivation of vegetables was 

 abandoned, as the available space was required for the growing 

 of flowers and ornamental trees and shrubs, but not before they 

 had been of much service in teaching the native gardeners how 

 to supply the local market and in inducing them to cultivate 

 better varieties from seed imported and distributed to them free 

 of charge. The old conservatory was constructed and a fern-house 

 built about this time. The following extract from Markham's 

 " Travels in Peru and India " gives his impression of the gardens 

 in 1860 :— 



" The English settler on the Neilgherries will find English fruits, Mr. Mark- 

 flowers, vegetables and grasses, the introduction of which is mainly li^im's de- 

 due to the exertions of Mr. William G. Mclvor, the Superintendent ^'^"^ ^°^^' 

 of the Government Gardens at Ootacamund, and now also Superinten- 

 dent of Cinchona Plantations in Southern India. This gentleman has 

 been in charge of the gardens at Ootacamund since 1848, and unites 

 zeal, intelligence, and skill to the talent and experience of an excellent 

 practical gardener. Under his auspices the steep scopes of one of the 

 spurs which run off from the Peak of Dodabetta and overlook the 

 cantonment of Ootacamund have been converted into a tastefully 

 laid out garden, in a succession of terraces. Hampered at first by 

 the interference of a useless committee, and with no assistance beyond 

 that of an East Indian foreman and labourers from the Mysore plains, 

 he has succeeded in changing the wild mountain side into a very 

 beautiful public garden. Every point of view is taken advantage 

 of with admirable taste, and numerous trees and flowering shrubs 

 have been introduced from England, Australia, and other countries, 

 while the native flora of the hills is fully represented. There are 

 English roses and geraniums, ponds bordered by white arums, shady 

 walks overarched by trellis-work, tasteful vases filled with showy 

 flowers, thickets of rhododendrons, hedges of heliotrope and fuchsias 

 fine clumps of tall spreading trees, — and from the upper terraces, 

 between the leafy branches, there are glorious views of the Ootaca- 

 nmnd vallej and of the finely broken range of the distant Koondah 

 hills." 



Of the branch garden at Kalhatti on the Segur ghat, which 

 had been added for the cultivation of plants requiring a warmer 

 climate and less elevation, Mr. Markham writes as follows : — 



" A magnificent waterfall descends into a rocky basin close beside 

 it, and the garden contains oranges of many kinds, shaddochs, lemons, 



