CHESNUT.-CASTANEA. 



In Botany, it is ranged in the Class ofMon&cia 

 Polyandria, and is of the Genus of Fagus, or 

 Beech. The Fruit is more properly a Mast 

 than a Nut. 



THE chesnut-tree was first brought to Eu- 

 rope from Sardis, (now Sart,) a town of Asia 

 Minor, by the Greeks, who called the fruit 

 the Sardinian nut, until it was honoured by 

 the appellation of A*o? BaAavo?, or Jupiter's 

 nut. Sardis was burnt by the Athenians 

 504 years before Christ, which caused the 

 invasion of Attica by Darius. We may there- 

 fore venture to conclude that the chesnut was 

 thus early known to the Grecians. Pliny 

 mentions eight kinds of chesnuts as being 

 known to the Romans in his time, and says 

 they were ground into meal, and made into 

 bread, by the poor ; " but when roasted/' 

 he adds, " they are pleasanter and better 

 food/' He also mentions one kind, coctiva 



