Karen Clavadetscher, age 9, of Tacoma, Wash., for her question:

WHAT, EXACTLY, IS AN ACRE?

One definition of Acre is to tell of a territory of Brazil that is bounded on the north by the state of Amazonas, on the west and south by Peru and on the south and east by Bolivia. Once a part of Bolivia, the area has valuable tropical rubber forests which have caused disagreement. In 1899 the country became independent, and in 1903 it became part of Bolivia.

Most of us think of a measure of land when we hear the word acre. Here's how you build up to its measurement: 144 square inches equal 1 square foot 9 square feet equal 1 square yard.  30 1/4 square yards equal 1 square rod 40 square rods equal 1 rood 4 roods equal 1 acre

In addition, the measure of 10 square chains also equals 1 acre, and to take it one step beyond, 640 acres equal 1 square mile.

Originally, the measure of one acre corresponded to the quantity which one yoke of oxen could plow in a single day. Now this measure in England and America consists of 4,840 square rods. The chain with which land is measured is 22 yards long, and a square chain contains 22 by 22 or 484 square rods. That brings it out to 10 square chains making up one acre.

Before the fixing of the statute acre in England, in the reign of George IV, the acre varied in different parts of the country and still survives locally in several counties  varying in size from 2.115 statute acres in Cheshire to 0.477 in Leicestershire.

The old Scotch acre is larger than the English, with the Irish larger than the Scotch. Just so you'll know all there is about the acre, you should know that 23 Scotch acresequal 29 imperial acres while 30.25 Irish acres equal 40 imperial acres.

Next we come to the hectare, a measurement from the French metric system that is 2.47 acres. This also comes to 100 acres on the metric scale, a system that has superceded on the Continent almost all the ancient local measures corresponding to the acre.