By Jean Baptists Van Mons, M. D. 199 



is mentioned in our Regulations for holding the Market, in 

 1213, under the name of Sprit y ten (Sprouts), which it bears 

 to this day. 



Much has been said of the disposition of this plant to de- 

 generate ; in the soil of Brussels it remains true, and I have 

 lately observed it to do the same at Louvain ; but at Malines, 

 which is the same distance from Brussels as Louvain, and 

 where the greatest attention is paid to the growth of vegeta- 

 bles, it deviates from its proper character, after the first sowing; 

 yet it does not seem that any particular soil or aspect is es- 

 sential to the plant, for it grows equally well and true at 

 Brussels, in the gardens of the town, where the soil is sandy, 

 and mixed with a black moist loam, as in the fields, where a 

 compact white clay predominates. 



The progress of deterioration at Malines was most rapid ; 

 the plants raised from seed of the true sort, which I had sent 

 there, produced the Sprouts in little bunches, or rosettes in 

 their true form ; seeds of those being saved, they gave plants 

 in which the Sprouts did not form into little Cabbages, but 

 were expanded ; nor did they shoot again at the axils of the 

 stem. The plants raised from the seeds of these last men- 

 tioned, only produced lateral shoots with weak pendant 

 leaves, and tops similar to the shoots, so that in three gene- 

 rations, the entire character of the original was lost. 



From a plant in the state last described, seed was saved, at 

 my request, and sent back to me. I had it sown by itself, 

 and carefully watched the plants in their growth ; I was not 

 long in discovering that they retained the same character of 

 degeneration they had assumed at Malines, and preserved it 

 throughout the whole course of their growth, yielding pen- 



