Lamy of Santa Fe

by Paul Horgan

half an acre. From the pond flowed little graded waterways to all parts of the garden. In the pond were two small islands on one of which stood a miniature chalet with a thatched roof. Little bridges led to the islands. Flowers edged the shores, and water lilies floated on the still surface, and trout lived in the pond and came to take crumbs which the archbishop threw to them. Now and then he would send a mess of trout over to St Michael’s College to be cooked for the scholars. There was always color in the garden through the warm season, for he chose varieties of plants which would in turn keep new blooms coming. He loved to bring wildflowers in from the country—someone said he “tamed” them in his cultivated beds. There was a plot for vegetables. Many of the trees bore fruit, and he worked season by season to improve their size and flavor. From cuttings of California vines he grew Malaga grapes whose bunches finally measured fifteen inches long. His cabbages and beets were huge, and he once showed three turnips which together weighed twenty-five pounds. His strawberries were so spectacular that he was able to sell them for a dollar a box, giving the proceeds to charity. When he came to live in New Mexico there were almost no fruit trees, for the fruit culture of the Spanish and Mexican colonists had vanished. Bringing in new orchard stocks, he encouraged others to do the same. For each tree he spent ten or fifteen dollars; and for freight—when the trees came by stage—ten...