每年春天，华盛顿特区会被粉红色和白色装点，游客们聚集在潮汐盆地拍照。很少有人知道，日本送往首都的第一批樱花树最终被烧毁。美国海关与边境保护局称，这些树因虫害必须销毁。此事帮助推动了1912年的《植物检疫法》。
Every spring, Washington, D.C., turns pink and white, and crowds gather along the Tidal Basin to take photos. Few know that the first cherry trees Japan sent to the capital ended up in a bonfire. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the trees had to be destroyed because of an insect infestation. The incident helped build support for the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912.
故事始于农业部的戴维·费尔柴尔德，他在1908年向华盛顿特区的每所学校赠送樱桃树苗，以在植树节种植。他希望把华盛顿打造成樱花之城。伊莉莎·鲁哈马·斯科德莫尔听了他的演讲后，发起了向首都引进樱花树的运动，并写信给第一夫人海伦·塔夫特，后者支持该计划。日本通过外交渠道得知此提议，化学家高峰丈吉动员了他的朋友、东京市长小崎幸夫协助。
The story begins with David Fairchild of the Department of Agriculture, who in 1908 gave cherry saplings to every school in the District to plant on Arbor Day. He wanted to turn Washington into a city of cherry trees. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore heard his speech and began a campaign to bring cherry trees to the capital, writing to First Lady Helen Taft, who supported the plan. Japan learned of the proposal through diplomatic channels, and chemist Jokichi Takamine enlisted his friend Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, to help.
第一批树木于1909年12月10日抵达西雅图，随后乘火车运往华盛顿。一支由查尔斯·L·马拉特领衔的科学家团队发现了介壳虫和根瘤，建议销毁这些树。威廉·霍华德·塔夫特总统于1910年1月28日批准了该方案，树木被焚烧。等待了24年的女子斯科德莫尔对该项目的兴趣可以追溯数十年。美国国家公园管理局关于樱花树的历史记载称，她在1885年首次访日归来后，提议在新填海的波托马克河滨岸种植樱花树。
The first shipment reached Seattle on Dec. 10, 1909, and continued to Washington by train. A team of scientists led by Charles L. Marlatt found scale insects and root gall and recommended destroying the trees. President William Howard Taft approved the plan on Jan. 28, 1910, and the trees were burned. The woman who waited 24 yearsScidmore’s interest in the project went back decades. The National Park Service’s history of the cherry trees says she returned from her first trip to Japan in 1885 and proposed planting cherry trees along the reclaimed Potomac waterfront.
她的请求未得到回应，随后她在接下来的24年里不断向历任公共建筑与场地总监提出诉求，仍未得到答复。
Her request went unanswered, as did her appeals to successive superintendents of public buildings and grounds over the next 24 years.
她的突破出现在1909年4月，当时曾居住日本的海伦·赫伦·塔夫特在两天内回信。第一夫人的来信次日，因发现肾上腺素而闻名的化学家高峰丈吉提出捐赠2000棵樱花树以填补该区域。塔夫特接受了这一提议，礼物将以东京市的名义赠送。这些树于1月抵达华盛顿。
Her breakthrough came in April 1909, when Helen Herron Taft, who had lived in Japan, answered her note within two days. The day after the first lady’s letter, Takamine, the chemist known for discovering adrenaline, offered to donate 2,000 cherry trees to fill out the area. Taft accepted, and the gift was to be made in the name of the city of Tokyo. Those trees reached Washington on Jan. 6, 1910, but were destroyed within weeks.
1910年6月6日，但这些树在几周内就被毁掉了。美国国家公园管理局的历史记载显示，国务卿曾致信日本大使表达深切遗憾。日方以决心和善意作出回应。尾崎和其他官员随后提议捐赠一批替代树木，东京市议会予以批准。这份新礼物最终增至3020棵树。篝火如何改变了美国法律。农业官员将这场毁坏视为进口植物风险的一次警示。
The National Park Service’s historical account records that the secretary of state wrote to the Japanese ambassador to express deep regret. The Japanese side responded with determination and goodwill. Ozaki and other officials then proposed a replacement donation, which the Tokyo City Council approved. The new gift eventually grew to 3,020 trees. How the bonfire changed U.S. lawAgriculture officials treated the destruction as a warning about the risks of importing plants.
农业部长詹姆斯·威尔逊及其工作人员利用这一事件凸显进口昆虫和植物病害对美国农业构成的危险。他们的科学发现为州官员提出的担忧增添了分量。当时，已有39个州通过了各自的植物检疫法，而要求制定全国性法律的呼声至少可以追溯到1898年。《植物检疫法》于1912年8月20日生效。该法设立了联邦园艺委员会，并为联邦植物检疫提供了框架。
Secretary James Wilson and his staff used the incident to highlight the dangers that imported insects and plant diseases posed to American agriculture. Their scientific findings added weight to concerns raised by state officials. By then, 39 states had passed their own plant quarantine laws, and calls for a national law dated back to at least 1898. The Plant Quarantine Act took effect Aug. 20, 1912. It established the Federal Horticultural Board and provided a framework for federal plant quarantines.
替代捐赠在接下来的两年里逐步成形。1910年12月，人们从东京足立区荒川沿岸一片知名樱花树林中剪取接穗。随后，这些接穗被嫁接到兵库县伊丹市培育的砧木上。1912年2月14日，一批代表12个品种的3020棵树从横滨装上“阿波丸”号轮船启运，经西雅图转运，再通过保温货运列车向东行驶，于3月26日抵达华盛顿。
The replacement donation took shape over the next two years. In December 1910, scions were cut from a well-known collection of cherry trees along the Arakawa River in Adachi Ward, a district of Tokyo. They were then grafted onto rootstock grown in Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture. A shipment of 3,020 trees representing 12 varieties left Yokohama aboard the S.S. Awa Maru on Feb. 14, 1912, and arrived in Washington on March 26 after crossing to Seattle and traveling east by rail in insulated freight cars.
第二天，第一夫人塔夫脱与日本大使夫人珍田伯爵夫人一起，在潮汐湖西北岸种下两棵吉野樱。只有少数人目睹了这场仪式。美国国家公园管理局将国家樱花节的起源追溯到这次栽种，尽管首届樱花节直到1935年才举办。树旁的一块铜牌纪念了这一时刻。友谊在仪式之后延续。美国……美国海关与边境保护局的记录显示，这些替换的树木在装运前经过了熏蒸处理。
The next day, First Lady Taft and Viscountess Chinda, the wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two Yoshino cherry trees on the Tidal Basin’s northern bank. Only a few people witnessed the ceremony. The National Park Service traces the National Cherry Blossom Festival to that planting, although the first festival was not held until 1935. A bronze plaque near the trees commemorates the occasion. The friendship endured beyond the ceremony. U.S. Customs and Border Protection records that the replacement trees were fumigated before shipment.
种植约11年后，尾崎和家人来到了这片树林。下次再刷到樱花照片时，请记得，那番景象的一部分历史，要归功于一次虫害检查和一次历经艰难开端而得以延续的外交姿态。
About 11 years after the planting, Ozaki and his family visited the grove. The next time a cherry blossom photo scrolls past, remember that the scene owes part of its history to a pest inspection and a diplomatic gesture that survived a difficult start.