Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-27
Capitals Floral Fete Ex-
pected to Grow Into
National Festival.
Fly MARGARET b. DOWNING.

| Since ancient times the japanese
have regarded the Towering cherry witt
admiration and reverence, and have
given unrcmitting care to cultivatine
the finer varieties. DR.. Paul Russell Of
the Department of Agriculture explains
in a brochure on these alien trees
Washington today is the home of thf
unique spectacle which will be enjoyed
by hundreds of thousands for the next
five weeks.
DR.. Russell is assistant botaniSt ir
the division of foreign plants of the
Bureau of Plant Industry. and his study
Of the Japanese Towering cherries is
the most Illuminating hitherto pre-
sented. He touches lightly on the ira.
ditions which place the cultivation oil
the cherry far back into the eras OF
unwritten history. But more than a
thousand years of recorded history
show cultivated groves of the single
white Towering cherry. and in. the yeal
1900 Emperor Tokugawa had more than
in Nippon to the ancient capital in
Kioto. This grove is among the sacred
spots in the blooming season. and the
trees, multiplied by 10, are among the
most prolific.
Yoshino Earliest in Bloom.
1t was the English botanist, John
Lindley of Norwich, who placed this
non-fruitful cherry in the class 'prunus
Serrulata.' The earliest blooming
specimens. those around the Tidal
Basin, are known as Yoshino. Pure
white and single, they are the sturdiest
and best known of all varieties, and
have been planted exclusively in the
famous park of Toxic. There are IL
different later blooming double species
on the east and west drives leading to
Hams Point, and these open their
blossoms in rapid succession, beginning
about the time that the single white
flowers on the Basin begin to fade,
thus making continuous panorama of
glorious blooms for more than a month.
Those who have heard the graphic
descriptions of Mrs. Elizabeth Bisiand
Wetmore, Mrs. Charles Burnett and the
late Eliza r. Scidmore or have read
the luminous pages of Lafcadio Hearn
or Pierre Lott on the Island Kingdom
when the cherries are in bloom realize
family what these flowers mean in that
part of the world
Mrs. William Howard Taft has added
her eloquent chapters of explanation of
the Capitals chief floral treasure. and
her enthusiastically expressed admira-
ton, her constant visits from Manila
to various parts of Nippon during the
towering seasons formed one of the
strong reasons for the mayor of Toxic
presenting the City of Washington in
1911 with nearly 5000 trees of some 81
different kinds These trees we're found
infested with disease and were ordered
destroyed.
Mrs. Taft Plants Tree.
The second consignment of more
than. 1000 came in the early Spring of
1912, and on March % of that year
Mrs. Taft planted the first tree of that
glorious circle around the Basin, and
ViscounteSs Chinda, wife of the Japa-
nese Ambassador, the second. Col. Spen-
Ger Cosby. superintendent of public
buildings and grounds, and Miss Eliza
R. Scidmore were the only witnesses of
this momentous event. After the
method used in Toxic, the Yoshino
early white single blossoming cherry
was selected because of the proximity
of the Basin to the city, and the bios
SONS could be enjoyed by more people
than in the instance of the later bloom
ing sort.
In Japan visitors to the lovely trees
walk beneath them, and to ride would
be sacrilege. Many recall the entire
family of the former japanese Ambas-
sador, M. Matsudaira, leaving their
machine at the outer edge of the park
and walking in their native costumes
over the grass to the earliest Towering
cherry.
President and Mrs. Coolidge loved TO
see the blossoms in the early morning,
and many times the East and the West
met, the President and the Ambassador
chatting for a moment, while Mrs.
Coolidge heard little Setsu, now the
wife of Prince Chichubi, heir of the
Japanese throne, recite the legend of the
blossoms and the refrain which Is sung
by the children of Nippon as they
gather the fallen petals and shower
them over the image of Buddha. In
their native haunts the cherry blooms
at the edge of dense forests of cryptic
meria, giant fir and pine, which are
Invested Of the lower limbs in order that
a perfect background may be presented.
For the reason that the cherries on
the Tidal Basin have such a back
ground, they are ardently admired by
the japanese Embassy contingent and
by all who have seen the glories of the
East when the cherry blooms. On the
Point those odorous double pink flowers
of the class Ichiyo, sometimes an inch
and three-quarters across. have no
background at all and stand in isolated
groups. Few of the cherry trees were
killed by the flood of last Fall.
Varieties on Point.
In the class of the double deep pink
flowers on the Point are the Fugenzo,
the Hisakura and the Kofugen. The
last is one of the strongest trees and
bears handsome double pink blossoms
which Withstand the. wind better than
the more delicate MAIDEN sieboldii, which
shows unusual lightness of color and
texture, but has barely a week of bloom
ing. The Japanese cultivate more than
$50 kinds of -fruiting cherry, but
DR.. David Fairchild chief botanist in
the Plant Industry Bureau. to whom the
mayor OF Toxic sent some 25 varieties
in 1907, found that only about half that
number fiOurished under the soil and
climatic conditions here. DR.. Fair
chlld's cherries in the park of his
home in North Chevy Chase have the
honor of being the oldest local speci-
mems of these glorious trees.
Another discovery Of vital importance
made by the division of foreign plants
is that many of the trees in Potomac
Park bear fruitful seed. and these are
carefully propagated In the Govern
ment experimental farms to produce in
course of time mighty groves of cherries
all over Washington and in cities of
favorable climate. Toxic is rot alone
in vast collections of Towering cherry
There Is the ancient grove at Kioto,
where pilgrimages focus: Arashi-Yama,
which tradition says was the first grove
of Towering Yoshino visited by the sun
goddess, and at Koganei. where for two
miles on each side of the River Sumida
the cherry trees bloom valiantly against
the smoke and CRIME of factories.
A festive spirit pervades all Japan
when the cherries bloom, and gradu-
ally the people of Washington are be-
, ginning to feel its lure. If the promise
now held out proves true and cherry
trees spread their gorgeous bronzy and
emerald foliage and radiant blossoms In