DONATIONS FOR PRIZES. 129 



Levi Whitcomb, a member of the Society, who died 

 in 1866, evinced his attachment to it by a bequest of 

 $500, to be available to the Society on the decease 

 of his wife, which occurred in 1870. On the 5th of 

 November of that year it was voted that the income 

 from this bequest should be known as the " Whitcomb 

 Premium," and that from it should be offered a prize 

 of $200 for the best seedling potato which should 

 be originated after January 1, 1871, and be exhibited 

 before and tested by a committee of the Society for at 

 least five years, and adjudged by the committee to be 

 of superior quality ; the first premium not to be awarded 

 prior to the year 1878. 



In each of the years 1872 and 1873 Charles S. Sar- 

 gent offered prizes to the amount of $160 for Chinese 

 azaleas and roses. In 1875 and 1876 William Gray, 

 Jr., offered prizes to the amount of $100 in each year 

 for pelargoniums, and in 1876 he offered prizes amount- 

 ing to $80 for Hybrid Perpetual roses, and the same in 

 1877. Other gentlemen have at different times given 

 less amounts to be offered as prizes for the objects in 

 which they felt a particular interest, among whom were 

 President Charles M. Hovey, Charles O. Whitmore, 

 Elijah Williams, Peter Smith, and the Fruit Committee 

 of 1867. The whole amount of the various donations 

 mentioned, including the Stickney Fund, in which the 

 Society has only a temporary interest, is a little more 

 than $42,500. 



The financial prosperity of the Horticultural Society 

 has resulted, in a great degree, from the foundation, in 

 its early years, of Mount Auburn Cemetery, of which a 

 full account has been given in previous chapters. By 

 the terms of separation between the Society and the 



