CYCLAMEN

cyclamen, in botany, a genus belonging to the natural order primulaceae, containing about ten species native in the mountains of central europe and the mediterranean region. _c. europaeum_ (sow-bread) is found as an introduced plant in copses in kent and sussex. the plants are low-growing herbs with large tuberous rootstocks, from the surface of which spring a number of broad, generally heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, long-stalked leaves, which in cultivated forms are often beautifully marbled, ribbed or splashed. the flowers are nodding, and white, pink, lilac or crimson in colour. the corolla has a short tube and five large reflexed lobes. after flowering the stalk becomes spirally coiled, drawing the fruit down to the soil. cyclamen is a favourite winter and spring flowering plant. _c. persicum_ is probably the best known. it is a small-growing kind bearing medium-sized leaves and numerous flowers. _c. giganteum_ is a large, strong-growing species; not quite so free flowering as _c. persicum_, but in all other respects superior to it when well grown. _c. papilio_ differs in the fringed character of the petals. it has been obtained by selection from _c. persicum_. there is also a very beautiful crested race, probably derived from _c. giganteum_. the plants are raised from seed, and, with good cultivation, flower in fifteen to eighteen months from date of sowing. seed should be sown as soon as ripe, in july or august, in pots or pans, filled up to 2(1/2) in. of the rim with broken crocks for drainage. the soil should consist of fibrous yellow loam, leaf-mould in flakes, and coarse silver-sand, in equal parts. sow the seed thinly--1/4 in. to 1/2 in. apart--and cover with a very thin sprinkling of the soil. protect with a square of glass covered with a piece of brown paper for shade, and place on a shelf in a warm greenhouse. the soil should never be allowed to get dry. when the seedlings appear, remove the covering, care being taken that they do not suffer for want of shade, water or a moist atmosphere. as soon as the third leaf appears, repot singly into thumb-pots in slightly coarser soil, so that the crowns of the little plants are just above the level of the soil. in december transfer into a little richer soil, consisting of two parts fibrous loam broken into small bits by hand and the fine particles rejected, one part flaked leaf-mould, passed through a half-inch sieve, half a part of plant ash from the burnt refuse heap and half a part of coarse silver-sand. keep through the winter in a moist atmosphere at a temperature not below 50 deg. fahr., and as near the glass as possible. in march they should be ready for their next shift into 5-in. pots. the potting compost should be the same as for the last shift, with the addition of half a part of well-sweetened manure, such as a spent mushroom bed. keep in a warm moist atmosphere and shade from strong sunlight. in june remove to cold frames and stand them on inverted pots well clear of one another. slugs show a marked partiality for the succulent young leaves and should be excluded by dusting round the frames occasionally with newly slaked lime. the inverted pots serve as traps. the frames may thus be frequently syringed without keeping the plants unduly wet. shade heavily from direct sunlight, but afford as much diffused light as practicable. ventilate on all favourable occasions, and close the frames early after copious syringing. by the end of the month they will be ready for the final shift into 7-in. pots. much care must be used in handling them, the leaves being large, tender and numerous. the soil is as for the last potting. the frames should be kept close and heavily shaded for a few days after potting; then gradually reduce shade and increase ventilation. by the end of july the elegance of the foliage alone should well repay the care bestowed on them. from this time onwards very little shading will be needed, the object of the cultivator being to harden the growth already made. with the advent of cool weather in september, remove to flowering quarters in a warm greenhouse. flowering will begin in november and will continue through the winter and spring. the damping off of the flower-buds may occasionally prove troublesome during winter. this may generally be traced to checks, such as sudden changes in temperature, too low a temperature, careless watering, &c. during spring plants that are flowering freely will require weak manure water about twice a week. plants selected to bear seed should be set aside for that purpose, and as soon as the capsules are found to be developing properly they should be reduced to six or seven per plant, and all flower-buds picked off as soon as they are large enough to handle. the production of strong seeds is of the utmost importance. plants grown for market purposes, either for decoration or for seed, are sown later than the above, are kept cooler, and during summer receive more ventilation and less shade. this results in the production of plants with much smaller and more erect leaves, which travel well. they are flowered in spring and early summer. the species grown for this purpose is _c. persicum_. a few species are hardy in dry sheltered positions, such as rockeries, under walls and old trees, provided the positions are well drained. such are _c. europaeum_, with reddish-purple flowers in summer; _c. hederifolium_ in autumn; and _c. neapolitanum_, with large leaves marbled with silver and rosy-pink flowers. cycle (gr. [greek: kuklos], a circle), in astronomy, a period of time at the end of which some aspect or relation of the heavenly bodies recurs. the more important cycles are discussed in the articles calendar and eclipse. in physics, the term is applied to a series of operations which, performed upon a system, brings it back to its original state; "carnot's cycle" is an example (see thermodynamics). from the use of the word for any period at the end of which the same events recur in the same order or for any complete series of phenomena, it is used loosely of any long period of time. the name [greek: ho epikos kuklos], the epic cycle, was given to the poems which complete the homeric account of the trojan war (see below). it is this use which has given rise to the application of the term "cycle" to a series of prose or poetical romances which have for a centre one subject, whether a person, as in the alexander, arthurian or charlemagne cycles, or an object, such as the ring of the nibelungenlied. in music "song-cycle" (ger. _liederkreis_) is similarly used of a series of songs written round one subject or set to poems by the same author. beethoven's _an die ferne geliebte_ (op. 98), published in 1816, is the earliest instance. schubert's _die schone mullerin_, schumann's _dichterliebe_ and brahms's _magelone-lieder_ are well-known instances. _epic cycle._--this is a collection or corpus of lays written about 776-580 b.c. by poets of the ionian school, introductory or complementary to the homeric poems, dealing with the legends of the trojan and theban wars. at a later date they were arranged so as to form a continuous narrative (the _iliad_ and the _odyssey_ included), perhaps after certain alterations had been made, to fill up gaps and remove inconsistencies and repetitions. by whom, and when, they were so arranged, cannot be decided; it is possible that it was the work of zenodotus of ephesus, who had the care of the epic section of the alexandrian library. in order to furnish the general reader with a comprehensive sketch of mythological history, proclus--according to welcker and valesius (valois), not the neo-platonist, but an unknown 2nd or 3rd century grammarian, perhaps eutychius proclus of sicca[1] in africa, one of the tutors of marcus aurelius (see proclus)--compiled a prose summary ([greek: grammatke chrestomatheia]) of the contents of the poems, to serve as a sort of primer to greek literature. extracts from this are preserved in the codex venetus of homer and photius (cod. 239), according to which the epic cycle began with the union of uranus and ge and ended with the death of odysseus on his return to ithaca at the hands of his son telegonus. the cycle was in existence in his (proclus's) time, and was in request not so much for its artistic merit, as for the "sequence of the events described in it." further light is thrown on the subject by pictorial representations, intended for school use during the roman imperial period, the most famous of which is the _tabula iliaca_ in the capitoline museum. the expression "epic cycle" in the sense of a poetical collection does not occur before the christian era; the word [greek: kyklos] ("cycle," "circle") is used of a special kind of short poem and also of a prose abstract of mythological history; the adjective has the general sense of "hackneyed," "conventional," and is applied contemptuously (by callimachus and horace) to a particular alexandrian school of poetry. the most important poems of the trojan legendary cycle are the _cypria of stasinus_ (q.v.); the _aethiopis_ and _iliou persis_ (sack of troy) of arctinus (q.v.); the _little iliad_ of lesches (q.v.); the _nosti_ of hagias or agias; the _telegonia_ of eugammon. to the theban cycle belong: the _thebais_ or _expedition of amphiaraus_ and the _epigoni_ of antimachus. the _oechalias halosis_ (capture of _oechalia_) of creophylus (q.v.); the _phocais_ (or _minyas_) of prodicus; and the _danais_ of cercops, although belonging to the old homeric epos, cannot with certainty be included in the epic cycle. the names of the authors are in several cases exceedingly doubtful. bibliography.--the standard work on the subject is f. g. welcker, _der epische cyclus_ (1865-1882); see also t. w. allen, "the epic cycle," in _classical quarterly_, jan. and april 1908 (summary of sources and authorities); wilamowitz-mollendorff, _homerische untersuchungen_ (1884), who regards the traditional names and personalities of the poets of the cycle with great scepticism; d. b. monro, _journal of hellenic studies_, iv. (1883), appendix to his edition of the _odyssey_, xiii.-xxiv. (1900), and on the codex venetus fragment of proclus; j. e. sandys, _hist. of class. schol._ (2nd ed., 1906), vol. i. ch. 2; j. b. bury, _ancient greek historians_ (1909), pp. 2-8 on the epics as history; articles by h. flach in ersch and gruber, _allgemeine encyklopadie_, and by e. schwartz and others in pauly-wissowa, _realencyclopadie_. footnote: [1] an objection to this view is that according to the augustan historian capitolinus (_antoninus_, 2) eutychius of sicca was a latin not a greek grammarian.