Cherry Trees and David Fairchild

• The blossoming of cherry trees along the Tidal Basin is a delightful sign of rebirth after the pandemic and winter, drawing an estimated 1.5 million visitors to Washington D.C.

The Three Visionaries

• The story of the three people that brought cherry trees to the U.S. is not often told.
• The earliest cherry tree is in the playground of a nursery school in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
• The tree is on the former property of botanist David Fairchild.
• That 117-year-old tree produces leaning tower of pink blossoms each spring.
• In 1906, David Fairchild planted the cherry tree in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
• Fairchild wanted to know if the Yoshino cherries he saw in Japan could grow in the U.S.

David Fairchild

• David Fairchild created the Plant-Introduction Section of the Department of Agriculture in 1898.
• For 37 years, Fairchild looked for plants that could benefit Americans.
• Fairchild and his staff brought over 100,000 plant species and varieties into the U.S.
• These included soybeans, mangos, avocados, dates, alfalfa, nectarines, pistachios, horseradish, bamboo, and kiwifruit.
• Durum wheat transformed the economy of the Dakotas.
• Soybeans are the second most valuable crop in America, worth $46.1 billion in 2020.
• Fairchild visited Japan in 1902 and was astonished by the cherry trees.
• Fairchild noted that the cherry trees had no consistent name.
• He believed they could be introduced to the United States.
• Fairchild visited botanical gardens, commercial nurseries, and small gardens all over Japan via train and rickshaws.
• Fairchild noted on a map that Yoshino near Nara was the "center of cherry blossom cultivation."
• Fairchild noted that the “the best rice is said to come from Higo Province, giant radishes from Sakurajima, and large bamboos from Kagoshima.”
• Many experts told him that cherry trees would not grow in the U.S. due to temperature.
• The first batch of trees sent to the Department of Agriculture gardens in Chino, California, died in the heat.
• In 1905, Fairchild and his wife Marian bought 40 acres in Chevy Chase, naming it "In The Woods."
• They hoped to grow Japanese flowering cherry trees there.
• Fairchild ordered saplings from the Yokohama Nursery Company.
• He hired a Japanese-American gardener to help him.
• The gardener cleared a "sakura-no" (field of cherries) and "sakura-michi" (cherry path).
• On Arbor Day in 1908, one child from each school in Washington, D.C., was invited to learn about growing trees, and given a young tree to plant at their school.
• The Fairchilds invited visitors to see the cherry trees bloom.
• Franklin Lane, the Secretary of the Interior, wondered why the trees didn't produce edible cherries.
• Fairchild replied, "Must a rose or dogwood produce a fruit for us to eat?"
• In 1909, Fairchild encouraged the Chevy Chase Land Company to order 300 trees.
• The Arbor Day event on March 27, 1908 was held at In The Woods.
• On Arbor day, children planted the trees, and Fairchild gave them a little talk on tree culture.
• At Franklin School, Fairchild invited Eliza Scidmore, "the most noted writer on Japan," to discuss Arbor Day.
• Fairchild pointed out that the Speedway would be an ideal place for a Field of Cherries.
• Historian Roland Jefferson noted that the Franklin Park tree-planting was the first public expression of the idea of planting cherries along the Potomac.

Eliza Scidmore

• Eliza Scidmore had been trying to convince the Parks Department to plant cherry trees along the Potomac for years.
• Scidmore first went to Japan in 1885 when her brother George was an American consular official in Yokohama.
• She lived in Japan on and off, giving lectures and wrote articles for magazines and newspapers.
• In 1891, Eliza wrote that the cherry blossoms are a matter of great public concern.
• The sakura are the cherry blossoms.
• In her second book, Jinrikisha Days, Eliza wrote no one could be indifferent to the poetic charm of the Japanese springtime.
• All the major cities in Japan had special parks where people gathered to see the cherry trees.
• Scidmore was inspired by the spectacular mile-long avenue of trees in Tokyo called Mukojima.
• She thought such a park could be created in the nation’s capital on land reclaimed from the Potomac River.
• Scidmore told a Washington Star reporter that cherry trees might as well be planted in the great stretch of reclaimed ground by the river bank to hide the old dump heaps.
• Over 24 years, she presented her plan to each Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, with no success.
• One superintendent complained that policemen would be needed to keep boys from climbing the trees to eat the cherries.
• When Skidmore explained that the trees did not produce edible cherries, the superintendent asked, "What good is that sort of cherry tree?”
• Skidmore is considered the first serious female photojournalist.
• Her work was frequently published in National Geographic, and she was the first woman on their Board of Directors.
• Scidmore kept lobbying, but her requests were of no avail.
• At the 1908 Arbor Day event, she talked with Fairchild about planting trees on the Potomac Park.
• They soon began working on plans to acquire trees for the park.
• Scidmore hoped for donations to buy 100 trees each year so that there would be a rosy park.
• She sent a note to First Lady Helen Taft, requesting her approval and assistance.

Helen Taft

• Mrs. Taft was also working on plans to beautify the area.
• White House Historical Association stated that after Helen Taft expressed support, bureaucrats dropped their opposition.
• First Lady Helen Taft was very involved in efforts to improve the swampy waterfront of Washington.
• When she expressed support for the idea of planting cherry trees, bureaucrats at the Parks Department dropped their opposition.
• In 1909, Mrs. Taft approved plans for the new Tidal Basin.
• Two days after sending her note, Scidmore received a positive response from the First Lady.
• Mrs. Taft had visited Japan when her husband was Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of War.
• Mrs. Taft had experienced the beauty of those blossoms firsthand.

The Cherry Tree Donations

• With Helen Taft's support, the idea quickly gained popularity.
• On August 30, 1909, the Japanese embassy offered 2,000 young trees from Tokyo as a gift.
• In January 1910, Fairchild discovered that the first shipment of trees was severely pruned and infested with insect pests.
• One Agriculture Department botanist claimed that they were the "worst infestation by insects and root galls" he had ever seen.
• The matter was profoundly embarrassing.
• The trees and packaging were burned, with President Taft's approval.
• The State Department notified Japanese authorities with "deep regret."
• The diseased trees showed the need for an effective monitoring system for introducing plants into the country.
• Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki happened to be in Washington when the trees were burned.
• He urged the Japanese government to send a new shipment immediately.
• By January 1912, 6,000 young trees from along the Arakawa River in Japan were on their way to America.
• The trees had been thoroughly fumigated.
• Dr. Flora Patterson discovered that 45% of the initial batch of cherry trees was infested with root gall
• In February, Mrs. Yei Ozaki, the Tokyo mayor's wife, called the second shipment of trees a "memorial of national friendship."
• On March 27, the First Lady planted the first tree along the Tidal Basin.
• Eliza Skidmore joined her.
• Eleanor Roosevelt wrote that the trees were due to the energy and vision of Eliza Scidmore.