Henry B. F. Macfarland 

 (1861-1921) 



Mr. Macfarland was President of the Board of Commissioners of the 

 District of Columbia during the time that Mayor Ozaki sent the shipment 

 of cherry trees — which were later destroyed — to Washington, D.C., in 

 1909. At the suggestion of Colonel Spencer Cosby, he wrote a letter to 

 Mayor Ozaki on behalf of the people of Washington thanking the author- 

 ities of the City of Tokyo for their gift of cherry trees. 



Born in Philadelphia, Pa., he came to Washington, D.C., at an early 

 age. In 1876, he graduated from Rittenhouse Academy after which he 

 studied law on his own for several years, later attending lectures at Col- 

 umbia University (now the George Washington University, Washington, 

 D.C.). In 1900, he was appointed by President McKinley to the Board of 

 Commissioners of the District of Columbia and, soon thereafter, he was 

 elected President of the Board. He served in that capacity until 1910, 

 returning to private law practice afterwards. In addition to his duties as 

 Commissioner in 1900, he was chairman of the Citizens Committee for 

 the National Capital Centennial. During World War I, he seived as a 

 member of the Committee of Labor for the National Council of Defense 

 and was a major fund raiser for the American Red Cross. 



He died in Washington, D.C. 



Charles Lester Marlatt 

 (1863-1954) 



Mr. Marlatt was Acting Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, when the first shipment of Japanese cherry 

 trees was destroyed because of disease and insect problems. He prepared 

 and submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture the combined findings of 

 the entomologists who inspected these trees. A copy of his report was 

 later forwarded to the Departments of State and War and then to the Jap- 

 anese authorities. 



Born in Atchison, Kans., to a father who was President of Kansas Agri- 

 cultural College and a mother who also was an educator, Marlatt 

 attended the school where his father presided, receiving a B.S. degree in 

 1884 and a M.S. in 1886. Upon graduating, he taught at Kansas Agricul- 

 tural College for 2 years as an assistant professor. In 1889, he joined the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, as an assistant 

 entomologist. In 1894 he was appointed Assistant Chief of the Bureau. 



Because of his early efforts to restrict the entry into this country of 

 insect pests, the Plant Quarantine Act was passed in 1912 and the Federal 

 Horticultural Board was established by the U.S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture to carry out the intent of this Act. Marlatt was made Chairman of 

 the Board, an assignment which he performed while still serving as Assis- 



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