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The sun never sets
from the 24th of May to the 21st of July. There is neither twilight
nor night,--the long Arctic Day has set in. During this period the
sun warms the soil only at noon, simply shining for the rest of
the day, seemingly a golden orb without heat. Summer, beginning
about the middle (_i. e._, end) of June, barely lasts two months.
By July flowers are already shedding their blossoms, their rapid
growth being aided by the unbroken daylight.
Any attempts at agriculture in such a climate are, of course, foredoomed
to failure, but along the river banks some fairly good meadows
enable the settlers of the Murman to rear all the cattle they need.
Turnips are the only vegetables that can be raised, with, here
and there, a few potatoes.
The southern and western portions of the Peninsula are covered with
pretty good timber, mostly pine (_Pinus silvestris_). As you go
further north, the timber becomes more and more stunted, consisting
chiefly of birchwood, till you reach the open _tundra_, which is
clothed in moss and low-growing shrubs.


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