Introduction
The Wellingtonia was introduced by Mr. J.D. Matthew, who visited the Calaveras Grove in July 1853, and sent home seeds immediately afterwards. In Pinetum Britannicum, p. 318, eleven trees of this origin are traced, namely, two each at Gourdiehill, Megginch Castle, and Ballendean, near Inchture, and one each at the Kinnoul Nursery near Perth, Newburgh, Balbirnie, Inchry House, and Eglinton Castle; but none of these were so large when he wrote as those raised from later consignments. Lobb visited the Calaveras Grove in the autumn of the same year, and returned! to England in December 1853, bringing with him a large quantity of seed and two living plants. The latter were planted out in Veitch’s nursery at Exeter, but only survived three or four years.
Cultivation
The culture of the Wellingtonia presents no difficulty if care is taken to have the roots thoroughly spread out when planted out. They are often kept too long in pots, which causes their main root to curl round, and when this has assumed a cork- screw shape it never loses it. If the tree is transplanted every year or so while young, it may safely be removed when 4 or 5 feet high. As regards soil and situation it is more accommodating than the redwood, and even in heavy soil is rarely injured by spring frosts. It grows very fast in most places up to 40 or 50 feet high, and then, unless the soil is deep and well drained, often becomes stunted and increases more in girth than height. If planted in a park or field pastured by stock, it must be very carefully fenced, as horses and cattle will gnaw its bark persistently and do it much injury. I noticed a good instance of this in the park at Mark’s Hall, Essex, where some Wellingtonias had been so much bitten by cattle that they resembled the trees in a toy Noah’s Ark, one about 35 years old being only 12 feet high by 3 feet in girth, When surrounded by other trees, where it cannot extend its branches laterally, the girth is much less in proportion. A tree that I saw in a plantation at Powis Castle, which was growing extremely well, was 75 feet high and only 7 feet 3 inches in girth, whilst one in the lower park at the same place was 81 feet by 16 feet.
Remarkable Trees
When first introduced this tree made such a sensation in the horticultural world that it was planted almost everywhere, and there are specimens at every place of importance in the United Kingdom, many of which are very nearly equal in size The tallest at Windsor Castle was already 21 feet high in 1865, and is now, as I an
1 Hortus Veitchii, 39, 346 (1906).
2 An teresting article on the causes of success or failure plantations on a large scale of this tree in South Hampshire appeared in Gard. Chron. ix. 794 (1878).
