In 1909, Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, had coordinated with his city council to gift America 2,000 cherry blossom trees. The trees arrived in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 1910, ready to be planted. Upon inspection, the trees were summarily set ablaze.
The arrival of the trees had been a 25-year labor of love for Eliza Scidmore, the renowned travel journalist. To learn that the cherry trees, which had traveled thousands of miles, ultimately became firewood, may have been disheartening, but it was not defeating. Indeed, there was good reason for destroying the gift. After the trees underwent an inspection by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), they were found to be diseased and infested with insects. In fact, Tokyo’s gift resulted in America’s Plant Quarantine Act of 1912.
