Plants which were deep in the ground, such as potatoes, took a good deal of time to spring up because of the ground being frozen below, but those which were near the surface of the ground commenced to grow very soon, and the nearer one approached the north, for example at the Arctic circle, the more rapidly did the vegetation begin, because of the greater length of the days, or the days being without nights. In 1886 the bishop observed the matter at Good Hope. Towards June 7 or 8, vegetation commenced, and in five or six days the leaves of the trees had reached their natural size. It was because it commenced to be warm then, and very warm, and that continued, save when sometimes north winds set in, which would bring back the snow and cold and sometimes injure the crops. It was difficult, Bishop Clut remarked, to say the extent of country fit for pasturage, and the cultivation of cereals or other plants, for the reason that cultivation had not been tried, except by the missionaries, and a little by the Hudson’s Bay Company. During his examination before the committee, Bishop Clut was asked:—“How far north has the potato been grown to your knowledge?” He replied:—“We raise potatoes even as far north as the Arctic circle, at Fort Good Hope, but they are very small. We have no bread there, and an Irish brother has RAISED POTATOES EVERY SUMMER. Once I passed a winter there and they had very little potatoes. Out of five bushels planted they got only six bushels. Two years ago I passed the winter there, and out of ten kegs planted they got twenty-five.” The bishop added that there were then at nearly all of the missions gardens in which were raised potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, cabbages, turnips and lettuce. Even at Fort Good Hope they raised turnips and carrots. Wild roses grew in abundance as far north as Good Hope. Horses, at that date, had not been taken farther than Great Slave lake, but cattle had been taken as far north as Fort Good Hope. They were found at the principal establishments of the missionaries, and at the forts of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Bishop Clut stated that he was certain that if Mackenzie country became settled and cultivated on a large scale, the occasional white frosts of the summer months would be much less frequent. That was the result which they had already observed at their principal mission posts; the more they cleared to any extent the less were the fields susceptible to frost. The months of September and October were generally dry, and the blue sky made them charming. In general they had a clear sky without a cloud and that is what makes the climate so healthy in the basin of the Mackenzie. People could live there to a greater age than in any other part of the globe. “CHINOOKS” AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.