CHAPTER XXI 



CONIFERS 



The coldest place in the world is said to be a certain 

 settlement in Siberia called Werchojansk. It is not so 

 very far north (67° 34' N. lat), but yet the cold is 

 almost impossible to realise. During the three winter 

 months the thermometer is never above —24.3° C. 

 and occasionally sinks to — 64° C. Indeed it is only 

 in the four months, June to September, that the mean 

 temperature is above the freezing point. July is the 

 hottest month, but the highest temperature recorded is 

 only 29° to 30° C.^ 



Now Werchojansk is in the Siberian forest region, so 

 that trees do manage to exist even in this climate. 



It can hardly be expected that when they have only 

 some two months in which to grow, the results will 

 be at all remarkable. A tree of Finns cembra about 

 6 feet in height, for instance, will probably be seventy 

 years old, but the fact that they can grow at all in such 

 places as Werchojansk seems to prove that it is not 

 mere frost and snow that hinders the northward exten- 

 sion of the forest. 



All round the North Pole, though at a very respect- 

 ful distance from it, there seems to be a belt of coni- 

 ferous forest. No doubt thickets of birch go even 

 farther north than the conifers ; but pines, spruce, or 

 larch form the great northern woodlands, and the de- 

 ciduous oaks and beeches are only found in much more 

 southerly latitudes. 



It is not the cold but the drought which prevents 

 these conifers from growing much farther north than 



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