JANUARY 9 



with a dozen or more hard and relatively large seeds, 

 tightly against the spherical root-stock. As the said 

 root-stock often increases to a breadth of six or eight 

 inches, most of the seeds are discharged on the flattened, 

 sometimes depressed, top, germinate there in a crowded 

 clump, and if left alone, mostly die of congestion. It 

 may be that, in the Mediterranean region, whence most 

 of the hardy species have come to us, cyclamens depend 

 for the dispersal of their seeds on the intervention of 

 ants or other insects. Having never discovered ants of 

 any kind in our flower-garden (a somewhat singular 

 fact), our cyclamen have to get along without the 

 intervention of those diligent creatures. Swine are said 

 to be fond of the acrid root-stocks of cyclamen (whence 

 the English name ' sow-bread '), and no doubt if they rout 

 them out, the seeds must be scattered ; but this seems 

 an auxiliary too fortuitous to be trusted for sure pro- 

 pagation of the plant. It is to this queer habit of rolling 

 up the flower-stock into a tight coil that the genus 

 owes its name cyclamen, from the Greek KVK\O<$, a 

 circle. It suggests the parallel of overfond parents, 

 whose exaggerated affection and anxiety for their off- 

 spring hinder them from going forth into a wicked 

 world, whereby the youngsters are condemned to enter 

 ' blind alleys.' 



Whether in flower or leaf, the beauty of both spring 

 and autumn cyclamens is so fascinating that it is a pity 

 they are so seldom grown in British gardens. The 

 most lavish display of them which I have seen is in Mr. 

 J. C. Williams's famous grounds at Caerhays, in Corn- 

 wall. There a wide expanse of lawn under spreading 



