LEGACIES OF HON. B. Y. FRENCH. 125 



for $500, for the purpose of being added to the per- 

 manent fund for premiums on fruits and flowers. In. 

 the next year, on the 23d of September, Mr. Bradlee 

 sent to the Society another gift of the same amount, 

 which it was voted to add to his former donation, to 

 be invested in the same manner and for the same pur- 

 pose. 



At a meeting of the Society on the 7th of August, 

 1847, a letter was read from Edward Beck of Worton 

 Cottage, Isleworth, near London, Eng., a corresponding 

 member of the Society, and a successful amateur culti- 

 vator of the pelargonium. As he did not wish to be 

 merely a nominal corresponding member of the Society, 

 he placed at the disposal of the Committee on Flowers 

 7, to form two prizes for the season of 1848, to en- 

 courage the cultivation of his favorite flower. 



At the meeting of the Society, January 18, 1851, 

 $150 was received as a donation from George W. 

 Smith, to be appropriated to the purchase of books for 

 the library. 



The Hon. Benjamin V. French, who was one of the 

 founders of the Society, and long an officer, retained 

 the deep interest which he always felt in its prosperity 

 as long as he lived; and at his death, which occurred on 

 the 10th of April, 1860, he left to it $500. It was 

 voted by the Society, in consideration of the deep 

 interest manifested by Mr. French in the cultivation of 

 the apple, to invest the amount as a special fund, the 

 income to be forever appropriated in prizes for the 

 improvement of that fruit. A further sum of $2,511.13 

 was received from the estate of Mr. French on the 

 decease of his widow in 1878. 



At the meeting of the Society June 6, 1863, the 



