Judith Anne Berrick, age 8,  of Pittsburgh, Pa., for her question:

Why do weeds grow so fast?

Most of the wild weeds have but a short while to do their growing. They start as seeds, and in a few summer months they must be grown and ready to make more seeds. The soil may be poor, and there is no one to plant their seeds or water them when there is no rain. Weeds must be very tough plants to get along in the wilds.

Every young person loves to grow a row of beans. You choose the seeds and set them in rich garden soil and watch and water them. They have a much easier time than the wild weeds, but as a rule the weeds are tougher plants. When their seeds land in the garden they often grow faster than the beans. The weeds can out do the beans in the garden, and, sad to say, our pampered beans could not live as the weeds do in the wilds.