pe a 
ee ae 
CYCLOBOTHRA. 
among the leaves, and there protecting the ger- 
men till it becomes ripe at the time of the final 
decay of the leaves. A variety of this species has 
white-coloured flowers. Nine other species, ezw- 
Topeum, vernum, coum, repandum, persicum, lati- 
folium, neapolitanum, linearifolium, and rbericum, 
are cultivated in gardens; but all have a height 
and habits similar to the ivy-leaved species and 
the crocuses; and they differ from one another 
principally in the form and appearance of the 
leaf, and in the colour and fragrance of the flower. 
The most common are coum and europzeum ; and 
the most beautiful, or at least the most diversi- 
fied, is persicum. Cyclamens deserve a promi- 
nent place in every garden which has warm bor- 
ders or the convenience of frames; for not only 
are they handsome in themselves, but they afford 
a constant succession of bloom, and enliven the 
winter as profusely as the spring or the summer, 
_ C. vernum begins to bloom in November, and C. 
| coum about the end of December; and both of 
these continue in flower during several months. 
C. persicum, comprising five very distinct vari- 
eties, can be made to bloom from October till 
June; C. europzeeum comes into flower in the 
latter part of June; and C. hederzefolium fills up 
' the interval between the last and C. vernum. 
| The seeds of all the species require to be sown as 
soon as they are ripe. 
The root of C. europzeum 
is the principal food of the wild boars of Sicily, 
and hence is popularly called sow-bread. Great 
acridity exists in both the root and the leaves of 
C. europeeum; and a considerable degree of the 
same property resides in some of the other spe- 
cies. 
CYCLOBOTHRA. A genus of very beautiful, 
tuberous-rooted plants, of the tulip tribe. It 
was constituted by Mr. Sweet out of the purple 
and the bearded species of fritillary; and it now 
includes the plant which was formerly called 
Calochortus elegans, and two recently discovered 
Californian plants, the one white-flowered and 
the other yellow-flowered, and both about a foot 
high. It partakes the splendours of both Calo- 
chortus and Fritillaria. Its name signifies ‘a cir- 
| cular pit, and alludes to a nectar-holding hollow 
|| in each petal of its flowers. 
CYCLOID. The line described by a moving 
wheel. Imagine a circle which is rolled perpen- 
dicularly along a straight line, till the point first 
at rest is brought to rest again, after an entire 
revolution. The curve, thus described by this 
point, is called a cyclozd, because every point in 
the circumference of a revolving wheel describes 
a similar curve. The circle is called the gener- 
ating circle; the line on which it is described, 
the base of the cycloid. The length of the cycloid 
is always four times the diameter of the gener- 
ating circle, and its area three times the area of 
this circle. This line is very important in the 
higher branches of mechanics. 
CYCNOCHES. A genus of ornamental, epi- 
phytous plants, of the orchis tribe. Loddiges’ 
CYDER. 
species, C. Loddigesti, was introduced to Britain 
from Surinam in 1830; and is one of the most 
remarkable of the very interesting orchidaceous 
group. Its pseudo-bulb is elongated, cylindrical, 
from 8 to 12 inches long, ashy grey, clustered, 
articulated, sheathed with the bases of former 
years’ leaves, and terminating with a leafy crown; 
its leaves are sharply lanceolate, membranaceous 
and striated; and its scape rises from near the 
top of the pseudo-bulb, and bears many large, 
imposing, and singularly-shaped flowers. The 
two lateral sepals are sharply-lanceolate, and 
have a greenish colour, with transverse brown 
blotches; the lateral petals are larger, spotless, 
falcate, and decurved ; the lip is lanceolate, thick, 
and fleshy, and, in the rarest variety, has an 
ivory-white colour, tipped with green; the claw 
is spotted with red; and the column is deep 
purple, remarkably long and slender, gracefully 
curved in the manner of a swan’s neck, and sug- 
gesting, by this last character, the name Cyc- 
noches, which signifies ‘a swan’s neck,’ and has 
been popularly translated ‘swanwort.’ The 
flower has the additional recommendation of | 
being very fragrant. Two other species were 
introduced previous to 1840. 
CYDER. A liquor made from the juice of 
apples. The quality of this popular beverage 
depends principally on the following particulars, 
viz,—l. kind of fruit; 2. condition of the fruit 
when ground; 3. manner of grinding and press- | 
ing; 4. method of conducting the requisite fer- 
mentation, and precautions to be taken against 
its excess. 
1. The characteristics of a good cyder-ap- 
ple are, a red skin, yellow and often tough and 
fibrous pulp, astringency, dryness, and ripeness 
at the cyder-making season. Mr. Knight asserts, 
that, “ when the rind and pulp are green, the 
cyder will always be thin, weak, and colourless ; 
and when these are deeply tinged with yellow, 
it will, however manufactured, or in whatever 
soil the fruit may have grown, almost always 
possess colour and either strength or richness.” 
It is observed by Crocker, in his tract on ‘ The 
Art of making and managing Cyder,’ that the 
most certain indications of the ripeness of apples 
are the fragrance of their smell, and their spon- 
taneously dropping from the trees. When they 
are in this state of maturity, in a dry day, the 
limbs may, he says, be slightly shaken, and partly 
disburthened of their golden store; thus taking 
such apples only as are ripe, and leaving the 
unripe longer on the trees, that they may also 
acquire a due degree of maturity. Mr. Buel ob- 
serves, that “the only artificial criterion em- 
ployed to ascertain the quality of an apple for 
cyder, is the specific gravity of its must, or un- 
fermented juice; or the weight compared with 
that of water. This, says Knight, indicates, with 
very considerable accuracy, the strength of the | 
future cyder. Its weight and consequent value | 
are supposed to be increased in the ratio of the 
921 | 
