Denise Tanning, aged 11, Ottawa, Canada

Why do things rot in the ground?

Every season, countless leaves fall to the forest 'floor. A number of branches fall and many trees come tumbling down. Many little animals also die on the ground. Some fail to wake from their winter sleep and perish deep underground. Billions of grubs and insects perish in or on the ground, ,end many a bird falls to its death on the earth.

Can you imagine what would happen if all these dead bodies were left around? The earth would be piled high with mounds of old trees, leaves, birds, insects ‑and little »n3,mals, There would be no room for the living. Mother Nature is a. good housekeeper. And she takes care of this problem.

She has in her service trillions and trillions of garbage men ‑some big and some small. The bid ones ire the vultures and creatures that feed on dead bodies. The little fellows are bacteria, that live in, on and around the soil. In fact they live in the leaves and animals while they are living. Some beetles also act as Nature's garbage men.

These creatures dispose of the garbage by eating it, They digest it and change it into something else. The bacteria, who do most of the work, devour leaves and change them back to simple chemicals. The simple chemicals are way down into the soil, They are, in fact, the chemicals which the plant took from the soil in order to grow.

The scavengers and the bacteria have broken up the garbage and given its simple chemicals back to the soil, New plants come along and these chemicals to make new leaves, which die in their turn. Animals come along and eat the leaves and die in their turn, ?end so it goes in a cycle of growth tend decay and nothing is lost of wasted.