BOTH SPECIES of Redwoods have been used extensively in reforestation and as ornamentals in various parts of the world.

Sierra Redwood—as ornamentals.—The Sierra Redwood has been planted in many sections of Europe and Asia, as well as eastern and western America. In the eastern United States, it has not proved very successful. In some eastern states, it thrives well for from ten to twenty years but then it usually dies. A Sierra Redwood tree has grown for more than eighty years near Aurora, New York. Sierra Redwood trees have done well in many parts of California along the coast. Trees in Golden Gate Park of San Francisco, the city park of Napa, and in San Diego and Los Angeles are growing vigorously. Often, when planted in a region where the growing season is longer, trees of this species show a more rapid growth than in their native environment.

Sierra Redwoods planted in the Black Forest in Germany are remarkably vigorous. Trees from sixty to seventy years old are thriving there but they have not attained a height of more than 70 feet. The British Isles appear to offer very favorable conditions of temperature and humidity, and the Sierra Redwood probably does better in England than in any locality in Europe. A seed planted in 1857 at Statfield Tage has grown into a very beautiful tree. At the age of 11 years, the tree was 24 feet tall; at the age of 42 years, 71 feet tall; at the age of 54 years, 90 feet tall; and at the age of 75 years, it was 114 feet in height and 21 feet in circumference at five feet from the base.

Coast Redwood—as ornamentals and in reforestation projects.— Coast Redwood trees have been grown successfully as ornamentals in New Zealand, Australia, southern Europe, England, South America, and Florida. Dr. Jepson gives the following information about their cultivation:

[Coast] Redwood has been cultivated in England since 1846 and is now found in gardens throughout southern Europe.... Several horticultural varieties have been originated, differing in hue of foliage or hang of branchlets from the typical form.... Glaucous or silver-leaved forms as well as lustrous-leaved forms exist in the primitive forest. A cluster of four Silver Redwood trees stands in Mill Creek Canon in the Big Sun country of Monterey County.

The Coast Redwood has been used extensively in reforestation projects. California has been very active in this work. Seedlings have been carefully reared by the million in nurseries, and then planted in lumbered regions of the Redwood belt of California, but artificial reforestation in the Coast Redwood region has not proved successful and has been discontinued. Root or stump sprouts naturally reforest the cut-over areas. Seeds have been sent to New Zealand in great numbers for reforestation purposes.