Introduction
It is stated by Kent in Veitch’s Coniferæ that Hartweg, who collected in California and Mexico for the Royal Horticultural Society in 1846 and 1847, was the introducer, but there is no evidence to confirm this statement, either in Hartweg’s letters, which are printed in the Journal of the Society, or in Gordon’s account of the conifers of which he sent home seeds.
The first mention I can find of the tree in the Gardeners’ Chronicle is on March 17, 1849, when James Duncan, gardener at Basing Park, wrote that he had planted out in July 1847 a plant 9 inches high, which had stood two winters without protection. In the same journal for 1851, p. 246, it is stated that in 1845 there was a plant 2 feet 7 inches high at Holker, near Ulverston;’ and on the authority of Mr. Frost that a grafted tree planted at Dropmore in 1845 was 18 feet high in 1851. It is evident that all of these must have been raised earlier than 1848, when Hartweg returned to England, and in his letter, received by the Society on November 4, 1846,? though he speaks of having seen the tree on the mountains of Santa Cruz, he says nothing about having collected or sent home seeds.
In A Synopsis of the Coniferous Plants grown in Great Britain and Sold by Knight and Perry, at Chelsea, published by Longmans, London, without date, but probably about 1850, it is stated on pp. 45, 46, that the redwood was introduced in 1843, when plants were sent to Knight and Perry by Dr. Fischer of St. Petersburg, who received seeds of it from America. I have inquired of M. Fischer de Waldheim, Director of the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg, whether he knew who was the actual collector, but he replies that there is nothing in the archives which will give this information.
Cultivation
I have never seen a plant raised from seed grown in this country, though I believe it will ripen in the south-west. Imported seed, so far as I have tried it, germinates badly, and the seedlings are tender at first, and should not be planted without protection till they are two or three years old, as the young growth will usually suffer from frost.
I am inclined to think that many of the plants sold by nurserymen are raised from cuttings, and purchased plants certainly seem hardier than the seedlings I have raised, most of which were killed to the ground in 1905 and 1907, though they shot up many suckers the following year. I have no evidence to show whether trees raised from cuttings will grow into tall, straight trees, as in the case of Cryptomeria.
According to a note* by Mr. Frost in 1851, the first plants sent out by Knight and Perry were grafted, but this seems very unlikely, as there is no stock except that of the Wellingtonia which would seem at all suitable.
1 Mr. Fenner tells me that this tree is now only 65 feet high by 6 feet in girth, and has been damaged by wind at the top. Suckers are growing from roots two feet from the main stem,
2 Journ. Hort. Soc. ii. 124 (1847).
3 Gard. Chron. 1851, p. 246.
