Fairchild: Foreign Plant Introduction Medal 
But of all the things about which 
Mr. Lathrop has been enthusiastic 
there is nothing to which he has devoted. 
so much thought as: to the subject of 
the introduction of the Japanese timber 
and edible bamboos—nothing about 
which he is more convinced than of its 
great future importance to America. 
A collection of eighteen selected varie- 
ties and a bulletin on bamboo culture 
resulted from the expedition in 1902. 
Later Mr. Lathrop has added a_ kit 
of Japanese tools, a collection of baskets 
and valuable Japanese books on bamboo 
culture. During the past year he has 
crowned his work by the gift of a 
bamboo grove. This gift comprises 
46 acres of land near Savannah, 
Ga., on which is three-quarters of an 
acre of magnificent bamboo 50 to 60 
feet tall, planted years ago by Mrs. 
H. J. Miller, with plants introduced by 
Andrias Maynelo, of Savannah. This 
grove is to constitute the center for the 
propagation and study of this most 
important crop for the southern s‘ates. 
MR. LATHROP’S VALUABLE SERVICES 
This is a meager account of the 
volunteer services which Mr. Lathrop 
has given for a quarter of a century 
at his own expense. The valuable 
advice and the moral support which 
he gave when they were needed the 
most and the assistance which he has 
given to the establishment of so many 
valuable new industries in our country 
merit a recognition which his own 
modesty has made it heretofore im- 
possible to give him, and it is therefore 
with peculiar pleasure that I who owe 
so much to him personally as well as 
officially, present to him in the form of 
the Frank N. Meyer medal the recov- 
nition which I know all of us of the 
Bureau of Plant Industry who are asso- 
ciated with the work of introducing new 
plants feel he so justly deserves. 
» Mr. Lathrop, I present to you the 
first Meyer memorial. medal. 
WITH COMMISSIONER CAPERON IN JAPAN 
Mr. Lathrop’s remarks, upon receiv- 
ing the medal, carried the audience bac! 
half a century to the carly daysin 
173 
Japan, when, as a young man visiting 
there, he met the former United States 
Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. 
Caperon, who had been invited by the 
Japanese to come over and assist in the 
organization of Japanese agriculture. 
The speech was extemporaneous and 
it was not Mr. Lathrop’s wish that it be 
published. 
LETTER OF PRESENTATION 
May 3, 1920. 
Barsour Latruror, Eso., 
Bohemian Club, 
San Francisco, Cal. 
Sir: 
The Council of the American Genetic 
Association has been designated by the 
members of the force of the Office of 
Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction 
of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the 
United States Department of Agri- 
culture as the agency through which 
shall be presented the Frank N. Meyer 
medal for distinctive service in the field 
of foreign plant introduction. 
Your broad, constructive interest in 
the subject of plant introduction in the 
days of its inception in this country; 
your various expeditions to South 
America, South Africa, the Dutch East 
Indies. Japan, China, the Persian Gulf 
region, Australia, Siam, the South Sea 
Islands, and the principal countries of 
Europe and the Mediterranean region 
in search of new and valuable plants, 
which not only put the office in touch 
with the plant collectors of the wozld, 
but which assisted most materially in 
the ultimate establishment in America 
of the Persian Gulf dates, the Egyptian 
cotton, the Rhodes grass, the East 
Indian mangos, the Oriental timber 
bamboos, the Japanese vegetables Udo 
and Mitsuba, and many other varieties 
of plants; your recent gift to the gov- 
ernment of an important field station— 
the Savannah Bamboo Grove—entitle 
you, in the opinion of the council, to b> 
the first recipient of the Frank N. Meyer 
meal. 
It is with pleasure, therefore, that 
the council unanimously awards you 
this medal. 
