This growth-slowing response could prevent ... suggest that touch can sometimes be beneficial to plants, as it stimulates their immune system and can ward off attack by fungi or insects.

It has long been known that auxin stimulates the growth of plants. Now it has been discovered that some other substances do the same thing, opening up new horizons in plant physiology and agriculture ...

This work suggests that a part of the good results got with the corn-steep may be ascribed to its containing plant-growth stimulants; but this point has not been checked.