At 09:17 AM 3/7/99 +0000, you wrote:
>I believe there are also some representations (sorry, no examples to
>hand) of the forbidden fruit as an etrog, a citrus fruit with a well
>developed Jewish iconography. I seem to recall, as well, the
>pomegranate being identified in this context.
>Just to add to the confusion.
>As for the apple, I was struck in reading the 1001 Nights that it is
>used, in this Middle Eastern context, as an example of a highly
>exotic fruit.
There are a certain number of "chill hours" required every year for a fruit tree to produce well. These "chill hours" are the hours of coll or cold above-freezing temperatures experienced by a tree each year. This is the major reason apples are not grown commercially in certain areas of the U.S., such as warmer areas of the Southern U.S.
I don't have precise temperatures, but, judging from TV coverage, daytime temperatures in present-day Jordan and Israel in the non-desert, probably closely compare to those in central and eastern South Carolina: for instance, they will occasionally get an inch or so of snow, but rarely enough to severely cripple the transportation infrastructure and endanger lives.
One of my hobbies is gardening, which includes occasional episodes of fruit and berry growing. I lost two pomegranate trees in two years, one during the freeze that killed 90% of that year's South Carolina peach crop, and am now anxiously watching over a dwarf pomegranate, which is hopefully hardier.
Elizabeth Whitaker
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