356 



The National Geographic Magazine 



erating in the work of circumpolar ob- 

 servation proposed by the International 

 Polar Conference. The main object of 

 the expedition was the prosecution of 

 observations in terrestrial magnetism 

 and meteorology. Experimental gar- 

 dening was an elective investigation. 



The arctic night at Point Barrow, 

 which is of 70 days' duration, ends 

 at noon on January 23, when the upper 

 edge of the sun's disk appears above 

 the southern horizon. The next da} r 

 the entire disk is visible. Each suc- 

 ceeding day the sun rises a little earlier 

 and a little more to the east of south, 

 and sets a little later and a little more 

 to the west of south, and finally, when 

 the day and night are of equal length, 

 it rises directly in the east and sets in 

 the west. The day continues still to 

 lengthen and the night to shorten until 

 the middle of May, when the midnight 

 sun appears above the northern horizon 

 and the long arctic day begins ; the 

 sun then remains above the horizon both 

 day and night for 70 days, or until 

 July 24, when it dips its lower disk at 

 midnight below the northern horizon, 

 and night and day again begin. But at 

 no time are the sun's rays at Point 

 Barrow vertical. The maximum alti- 

 tude is 42° 3', which occurs at noon on 

 June 22. 



The snow does not begin to melt until 

 after the sun remains continuously above 

 the horizon, and does not disappear 

 before J uly , but the land close to the coast 

 is practically free from snow by the fifth 

 of June. The snowfall is very light, 

 the depth on the land along the coast at 

 no time exceeding 15 or 18 inches. The 

 total annual precipitation — rainfall or 

 melted snow — is only eight inches. 



A- level treeless area (tundra) occu- 

 pies the entire Point Barrow region. 

 The subsoil, principally sand and gravel, 

 perpetually frozen, is covered on the 

 tundra generally by a light, clayey soil, 

 and at spots near the coast by a dark, 

 loam -like soil, which thaws to a depth 



of from 3 to 9 inches. Upon the latter 

 soil , within 200 yards of the ocean water 

 line, the gardening described in this 

 article was done. The soil has been 

 enriched somewhat by refuse from 

 Eskimo iglus, or permanent dwellings, 

 which many years previous existed 

 there. The garden was dug to the depth 

 of about 4 inches and raked. No other 

 preparation of the soil was made, and 

 no further attention was given to the 

 garden from the time of seeding to 

 harvest day. 



On June 13 the seed of lettuce, radish, 

 and mustard were sown. By this date 

 caterpillars, worms, flies, and beetles 

 appeared ; ranunculus flowers were in 

 bloom. June 21, one da}- before the 

 sun reached its highest altitude and 

 eight days after the date of seeding, the 

 lettuce and radish germinated, but the 

 mustard failed of germination. By this 

 date additional species of flowers, in- 

 cluding the daisy and the willow, were 

 in bloom, and the pools of fresh water, 

 which had formed on the tundra from 

 rain and melted snow, were fairly alive 

 with insect life, upon which the red 

 phalarope was feasting. 



The following table shows the tem- 

 perature, precipitation, and weather 

 from date of seeding to germination : 



Month. 



Temperature. 



Precipi- 



State of 



Max. 



Min. 



Mean. 



tation. 



weather. 





°F. 



°F. 



F. 



Inches. 





June 13 



36.1 



3iS 



34.25 



0.00 



Fogg)'. 



. 14 



37-° 



32.0 



34-52 



21 



Cloudy. 



15 



35 -o- 



3'-9 



33-75 



0.12 



Foggy. 



16 



35-2 



29.1 



32.41 



0.00 



Foggy. 



17 



36.9 



29.0 



34.20 



0.00 



Foggy. 



iS 



45-2 



3°-9 



3S.55 



0.00 



Clear. 



19 



41-5 



35-.I 



38-94 



O.OI 



Cloudy- 



20 



3S.9 



33-o 



35-57 



005 



Cloudy. 



21 



35-3 



31.0 



33-52 



0.02 



Cloudy. 



The minimum temperature was be- 

 low freezing seven days out of the nine 

 required for germination. The maxi- 

 mum was above 40 on only two days. 



