October 24. THE COTTAGE GARDENER,. 53 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Weather near London in 
1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Moon’s 
A B e. 
Day of | 
Year. | 
M 
w 
OCTOBER 21—30, 1854. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
af. Sun. 
24 
Tv 
Short-eared Owl comes. 
30.063—29.886 
62—44 
S. 
_ 
41 
48 
5 59 
3 
15 
41 
297 
25 
w 
29.825-29722 
63 — 40 
s. 
— 
43 
46 
6 38 
4 
15 
48 
29s 
26 
Tit 
Whitethorn leaves fall. 
29.702—29.654 
67-47 
S. 
20 
45 
44 
7 29 
5 
15 
54 
299 
27 
F 
Tortoise buries. 
29.648-29.563 
64—52 
s. 
36 
47 
42 
8 36 
6 
16 
0 
300 
28 
s 
St. Simon and St. Jude. 
29.593—29.493 
61—47 
s. 
20 
48 
40 
9 59 
3D 
16 
5 
301 
29 
Sun 
20 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.947—29.822 
56-37 
s.w. 
— 
50 
38 
11 25 
8 
16 
9 
302 
30 
M 
30.056—29.992 
54—32 
N.E. 
— 
52 
36 
morn. 
9 
16 
12 
303 
Meteorology of tiie Week.—A t Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-seven years, 
the average highest and lowest tern- i 
peratures of these days are 54.7°, and 38.3°, respectively. The greatest heat, 68°, occurred on the 24th, in 1833 ; and the lowest cold, 
the 26th, in 1854. During the period 95 days were fine, and on 9 4 rain fell. 
23°, on | 
It is usual to stigmatize antiquaries ns “ The spiders of 
literature;” but, with much more justice, they might be 
called its “ Pearl-divers.” They go down into places 
were no one else would think of finding “ the treasures 
of the deep,” and they bring up “things of value” 
which take a high place in the caskets of the historian 
and biographer. 
Two of these Pearl-divers set forth, a few weeks since, 
to dive for information relative to a man of whom but 
little is known, but who is one of the best—perhaps, the 
very best—of our early writers on gardening. We mean, 
Stephen Switzer. 
All that had been previously known of Switzer’s 
history will be found in our third and sixth volumes; 
yet much remains to be discovered concerning him, and 
amongst the rest even his birth-place had to bo made 
known. 
Our two “Pearl-divers” remembered that, in his 
“Fruit Gardener,” Switzer had said, “ The best Walnut- 
trees I ever saw are those that grow upon chalk. Such 
arc those that grow about Ewell, near Epsom, and in 
many places of my own native county of Hampshire, 
there being one cut down, some few years ago, in the 
park belonging to the Right Honourable the Lady 
Russell, at Stratton, that did spread, at least, fifty yards 
diameter.” 
Our two “Pearl-divers” being at Winchester, in one 
of their divings in old church-yards found there a very 
recent stone, in that of the city’s Hyde Parish, to the 
memory of a “Stephen Switzer;” and one of them 
remembered that a boy, also named “ Stephen Switzer,” 
was just bound apprentice by one of the many charitable 
institutions in the said ancient city of Winchester. 
Upon enquiry, these “ Pearl-divers ” also found that 
there were more “ Switzers ” in the said city, and that 
they were “ builders,” had been of the same craft from 
generation to generation, and that they had migrated 
from Stratton, in the same county. 
So, forth our two “Pearl-divers” went, in hope of 
finding, at the said hamlet of Stratton, some records of 
the birth and parentage of the “Stephen Switzer,” of 
horticultural celebrity. 
It is no part of our duty to record of what they dis¬ 
coursed by the way. It might have been of that most 
memorable owner of Stratton — the great Protestaut- 
raartyr—Lord William Russell; it might have been of 
his transcendant wife, Rachel Wriothsley; it might have 
been of the wild plants by the way-side; and it might 
have been of the Walnuts which, as Switzer had ob¬ 
served before, they noticed to flourish on the chalky 
soil over which they journied. Bo all this as it may; 
wo know that they found Stratton to bo but a hamlet 
of Mitcheldever; and, as all burials, and all its relative 
records until within the last forty years, were kept at 
Mitcheldever, it was to this parish they directed their 
steps. 
They sought first that usual depository of parish 
news and parish history—the Church Clerk; but his 
mind was blank upon the subject of “ the Switzers.” 
He knew none of the name,— 
“ None were there here—nor any when 
He long since said his first ‘ Amen.* ” 
As usual, at the Vicarage, their next place to seek for 
intelligence, they met all courtesy; but the registry, 
embracing, probably, the time of Switzer’s ancestors, 
bore not a single entrance of the name. 
Forth, then, the two “Pearl-divers” sallied to explore 
the church-yard. Here hope was revived ; though, if 
eventually disappointed, they agreed that Flaxman’s 
figure of “ Resignation,” in the church, would not have 
promoted their adoption of that virtue. 
Many a moss - grown stone was scanned, without 
finding on it any memorial of a “ Switzer;” but, at 
length, the following rewarded their patient research :— 
“ in memory of 
THOMAS SWITZER, 
LATE OF E. STRATTON, 
BUILDER, 
Who Died June the 30th, 1742, 
Aged G4 Years. 
In earth no glory could he see, 
But hope for blest Eternity.'' 
This, the two “Pearl-divers” felt assured, must have 
been the brother of him in whom they alone felt an 
interest; and, upon returning to the Vicarage, another 
registry was produced, which confirmed that opinion, 
and gave them, further, all the information they needed. 
It told them that,— 
“ Thomas Sweetsur and Mary Hapgood (?) were 
married, February 14th, 1076.” 
These were the parents of the horticultural writer, 
whose baptism is thus recorded on another page of the 
stout old brown parchment, in still browner ink :— 
“ Stephen Sweetsur, son of Thomas Sweetsur, was 
baptized, February ye 25th, 1682.” 
The various modes of spelling the name cast some 
No. CCCXVIL, Vol. XIIT 
