472 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
grow on upland slopes, and it is in such positions 
that it can best display its cheerful wealth of 
beauty. Its branches are sometimes curiously 
subject to a peculiarity of growth, which has the 
effect, from whatever cause, of arresting the 
development of its boughs, the result being a 
dense cluster of incipient twigs giving at a 
distance, the appearance as of a bird’s nest 
ensconced amongst the branches. Rapid of growth 
—attaining a height oftentimes of twenty feet in 
the short space of a decade—and singularly hardy, 
the Birch is also easy of culture, and may be propa- 
gated by cuttings and by layers, as well as by 
seeds, if grown in soil which is light and rich. 
To the green freshness of its summer foliage 
succeeds the beauty of autumnal colouring, when 
the graceful leaves—‘ twinkling’ still at the touch 
of the chill autumnal breeze—charm the eye with 
delightful tints of scarlet, red, and yellow. 
