Children learning the process of good home gardening decide to help as best they can. Every day they walk along rows of bean plants, carefully inspecting each plant for insect and removing any that they find. However, the bean plants do not grow well and few beans form. Their parents notice the beans, inspect the plants and soil, and tell the children that walking around the plants every day has hurt the plants by: ________

a. compacting the soil, decreasing aeration and infiltration.
b. increasing soil aeration and killing soil microorganisms
c. reducing the nutrient minerals in the soil
d. contaminating the soil with toxins leaching from their shoes
e. converting the topsoil into clay

Soil have pores and openings through which air enter the soil for aeration. This pores also allow water to infiltrate into the soil when moisture falls on the soil. Constant walking around the Plants all day can compact the soil, pushing the soil grains closer, and eliminating any space between the grains. This prevents air from entering the soil, and also impedes infiltration of moisture into the soil. When this happens, the plants on the soil becomes starved of an optimum amount of moisture and air necessary for proper growth and development.