THE BIRCH. 309 
many birch trees in that vicinity were destroyed in this 
manner by the Russian soldiers. 
Several kinds of the tree, with large leaves, and likely to 
attain a greater size in this country than any ‘of the native 
sorts, have been introduced into Britain ; among them Betula 
lenta, or the cherry birch of Pennsylvania, appears to yield 
the largest and most beautiful timber. 
The cut-leaved weeping birch is one of the most elegant pen- 
dulous trees in cultivation. It is propagated by being en- 
grafted on the common sorts. Although it often produces 
shoots of great vigour when placed on strong stocks, sometimes 
three feet in one season, yet it only becomes a small tree, 
seldom in the north of Scotland exceeding twenty feet in 
height. It has the advantage of“at once assuming the pen- 
dulous habit of growth ; but the tree, though of great elegance 
in foliage and form, is not so robust and enduring as the native 
weeping tree. It is cultivated purely for ornament. 
