Excerpts from his letter follow: 



(1) Trees were raised at the Horticultural Division of our Experiment Station 

 under my direction; 



(2) The field where the trees were raised consisted practically of a virgin sod, ter- 

 tiary clay in nature and free from nematode infection; 



(3) The stock and scions were procured from a particular place free of disease and 

 scale infection . . . separately fumigated . . . sprayed with fungicides and 

 insecticides; 



(4) The trees were again treated with hydrocyanic acid gas and then carefully 

 selected before packing. The roots of each plant are covered with damp moss 

 and placed in wooden boxes. 



(5) Callus is frequently found on some trees. This is because young trees were 

 injured by the supporting sticks during severe storms in summer (44). 



Given these precautions and special care, expectations ran high among 

 Tokyo officials for a shipment of "Trees . . . reasonably . . . free from the 

 defects of their predecessor" (45). 



On February 26, 1912, Yei Theodora Ozaki, Mayor Ozaki's wife, in a 

 cordial letter to Mrs. Taft, fittingly characterized the second shipment of 

 cherry trees as a " . . . memorial of national friendship between the U.S. 

 and Japan" (46). 



By mid-March, arrangements were completed for transporting the new 

 shipment of cherry trees across the country after their arrival in Seattle 

 (47). The 3,000 cherry trees arrived safely in Washington, D.C., on March 

 26 and were delivered to the Propagation Gardens. The Department's sci- 

 entists immediately prepared to inspect the trees (48). While the inspection 

 process was still in progress, Secretary Wilson informed Col. Cosby that, 



Figure 14.— Mayor and Mrs. Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo, Japan, taken in 1910 around the time 

 of the destruction of the first shipment of Japanese cherry trees. 



19 



