Robert Nelson, age 11, of Stepney, Corm., for his question:

Can people in Alaska grow fruits and vegetables?

The Alaskan winter is long and cold. But when it leaves, Mother Nature tries to make up for the bitter hardship. The Alaskan summer is a sort, warm and beautiful. Of course, Alaska is a vast land, one fifth as large as the 4.8 states. So some regions are better for growing things than others.

Farmland is excellent north of Anchorage. Summer days are 20 hours long. All sorts of fruit and vegetables grow there. In fact, bumper crops brow to bumper size. There are whopping potatoes and monster cabbages and luscious berries of all sorts. Oats grow in Alaska and so do peas and them is also truck gardening.

Alaska is a now land, waiting for farmers to come along and reap its rich harvest. True, the winters are long and hard. But a short, bountiful summer ‑ in certain regions ‑ always comes along to even up the score.