Difference between revisions of "Book of Mormon/Olive horticulture"

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===Accurate Olive Culture Information{{ref|olive3}}===
 
===Accurate Olive Culture Information{{ref|olive3}}===
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{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
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|Wild vs. tame olives||
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There are many species [at least 35-40] of olive tree, but only one, Olea europaea L., is domestic.  Domestic olives have larger fruits and a higher oil content, having been bred for these desired characteristics.  Wild olives often have thorns, which make handling them less pleasant.
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|-
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|Interbreeding wild and tame olive||''Olea europaea L.'' is interfertile with some wild olive species.
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|-
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|Wild olive reproduction||The olive is the seed of the tree.  One could plant the olive seed, but this has a disadvantage: seeds are produced sexually (through the union of male and female genetic material).  Thus, they may not have all of the desired characteristics of a given parent tree, since you can't always control which other tree fertilizes a given seed.
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|-
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All wild olive trees reproduce only by seeds.||Thus, even trees with desired characteristics will tend to produce offspring that "revert" to wild, since genes get mixed and combined with seed reproduction.
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|-
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Growing new olive trees||Fortunately for olive growers, tame olive trees (i.e. domestics) can reproduce asexually [i.e. without sexual reproduction, or the mixture of genetic material—sort of like a bacteria which splits in half, making a perfect copy of itself), and this is also faster than growing from seeds.
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This asexual reproduction involves a tree sending out shoots or runners, which can be trimmed off and simply "planted" into the ground, where they will grow as a genetically identical tree—a clone, in genetic terms, an exact copy of the parent (with all its good characteristics).
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This may suggest what the gospel is to make the reader— a clone of Christ, as it were, in behavior and character. 
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|-
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Using wild olives as "rootstock"||The wild relative of the domestic olive, ''Olea oleaster'' can be used as part of the reproduction by "runner" described above.  A shoot can be grafted into a non-domestic (“wild”) tree for nutrition, yet will continue to produce olives according to its own genetics.  [This is the pattern that is broken when the wild branches begin to produce tame fruit—see below]
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This is often done to get the benefits of a certain rootstock (resistance to disease, ability to get by with less water, etc.) with a certain desired kind of domestic branch’s crop characteristic.
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|-
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Olive trees are valuable||They live for hundreds of years.  Starting a new olive grove was a major investment anciently, since no production could be hoped for before 40 years.  It's no wonder olive trees were a common feature of civilization: you needed a stable, settled society to even think about growing them.  [In fact, olives were considered by the Greeks to be a gift from the goddess Athena.  This was common thinking in the ancient world—olive oil was good for light, medicinal purposes, cleaning or adorning the body, and for food.  Olives were the key lipid (fat) source in early Eurasian agriculture, and a major economic driving force for the Greeks and the Roman empire (among others).
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|-
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Pruning is important||Fruit size varies with environmental conditions; sometimes excess fruit must be trimmed away so that the remaining fruit will grow larger, increasing the yield of oil.
 +
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Fruit only grows on two-year-old branches of trees, so older branches must be pruned away as needed so as to concentrate the tree’s "efforts" on the productive branches.  [One can't cut too many off at once, as the allegory says, or this won't leave enough leaves for photosynthesis, etc.]
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Why is the Lord always threatening to burn the vineyard?||Olive trees will usually grow back after being burned, producing suckers from the old roots.  This is often more time-effective than trying to start a completely new crop of trees from scratch.
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Why are branches cut off and then burned?
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This destroys any disease or parasite that may have caused the bad fruit, and prevents it from infecting the rest of the vineyard.  Olive wood on the ground would also get in the way of the dunging, plowing, etc. needed to take care of the valuable trees.
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The old wood is also knotted, twisted, and brittle: it is "good for nothing", one might say, except for burning.
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|}
  
  
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#{{note|olive1}} See the exhaustive Stephen D. Ricks & John W. Welch, ''Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5'' (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1994) ISBN 0875797679.<small>[http://gospelink.com/library/toc?book_id=587 GospeLink]</small>
 
#{{note|olive1}} See the exhaustive Stephen D. Ricks & John W. Welch, ''Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5'' (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1994) ISBN 0875797679.<small>[http://gospelink.com/library/toc?book_id=587 GospeLink]</small>
 
#{{note|olive2}}{{{BoMRC|start=618|end=621}}}
 
#{{note|olive2}}{{{BoMRC|start=618|end=621}}}
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#{{note|olive3}} WM Hess, DJ Fairbanks , JW Welch, JK Driggs,  "Botanical Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5" in Ricks and Welch, 484&ndash;562 unless otherwise indicated.
  
 
==Further reading==
 
==Further reading==

Revision as of 12:56, 29 October 2005

This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.

Question

Does the Book of Mormon's account of olive culture in Jacob 5 match what we know about this subject?

Answer

The Book of Mormon provides a remarkably accurate portrait of olive horticulture.[1] There are two points at which the allegory/parable deviates from the known principles of growing olives; in both cases, the characters draw attention to these deviations with some amazement. Thus, these 'mistakes' play a dramatic role in demonstrating the allegory/parable's meaning.[2]

Accurate Olive Culture Information[3]

All wild olive trees reproduce only by seeds.||Thus, even trees with desired characteristics will tend to produce offspring that "revert" to wild, since genes get mixed and combined with seed reproduction. Growing new olive trees||Fortunately for olive growers, tame olive trees (i.e. domestics) can reproduce asexually [i.e. without sexual reproduction, or the mixture of genetic material—sort of like a bacteria which splits in half, making a perfect copy of itself), and this is also faster than growing from seeds. This asexual reproduction involves a tree sending out shoots or runners, which can be trimmed off and simply "planted" into the ground, where they will grow as a genetically identical tree—a clone, in genetic terms, an exact copy of the parent (with all its good characteristics). This may suggest what the gospel is to make the reader— a clone of Christ, as it were, in behavior and character. Using wild olives as "rootstock"||The wild relative of the domestic olive, Olea oleaster can be used as part of the reproduction by "runner" described above. A shoot can be grafted into a non-domestic (“wild”) tree for nutrition, yet will continue to produce olives according to its own genetics. [This is the pattern that is broken when the wild branches begin to produce tame fruit—see below] This is often done to get the benefits of a certain rootstock (resistance to disease, ability to get by with less water, etc.) with a certain desired kind of domestic branch’s crop characteristic. Olive trees are valuable||They live for hundreds of years. Starting a new olive grove was a major investment anciently, since no production could be hoped for before 40 years. It's no wonder olive trees were a common feature of civilization: you needed a stable, settled society to even think about growing them. [In fact, olives were considered by the Greeks to be a gift from the goddess Athena. This was common thinking in the ancient world—olive oil was good for light, medicinal purposes, cleaning or adorning the body, and for food. Olives were the key lipid (fat) source in early Eurasian agriculture, and a major economic driving force for the Greeks and the Roman empire (among others). Pruning is important||Fruit size varies with environmental conditions; sometimes excess fruit must be trimmed away so that the remaining fruit will grow larger, increasing the yield of oil. Fruit only grows on two-year-old branches of trees, so older branches must be pruned away as needed so as to concentrate the tree’s "efforts" on the productive branches. [One can't cut too many off at once, as the allegory says, or this won't leave enough leaves for photosynthesis, etc.] Why is the Lord always threatening to burn the vineyard?||Olive trees will usually grow back after being burned, producing suckers from the old roots. This is often more time-effective than trying to start a completely new crop of trees from scratch. Why are branches cut off and then burned? This destroys any disease or parasite that may have caused the bad fruit, and prevents it from infecting the rest of the vineyard. Olive wood on the ground would also get in the way of the dunging, plowing, etc. needed to take care of the valuable trees. The old wood is also knotted, twisted, and brittle: it is "good for nothing", one might say, except for burning.
Wild vs. tame olives

There are many species [at least 35-40] of olive tree, but only one, Olea europaea L., is domestic. Domestic olives have larger fruits and a higher oil content, having been bred for these desired characteristics. Wild olives often have thorns, which make handling them less pleasant.

Interbreeding wild and tame olive Olea europaea L. is interfertile with some wild olive species.
Wild olive reproduction The olive is the seed of the tree. One could plant the olive seed, but this has a disadvantage: seeds are produced sexually (through the union of male and female genetic material). Thus, they may not have all of the desired characteristics of a given parent tree, since you can't always control which other tree fertilizes a given seed.



Book of Mormon/Olive horticulture


Endnotes

  1. [note]  See the exhaustive Stephen D. Ricks & John W. Welch, Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1994) ISBN 0875797679.GospeLink
  2. [note] start=618
  3. [note]  WM Hess, DJ Fairbanks , JW Welch, JK Driggs, "Botanical Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5" in Ricks and Welch, 484–562 unless otherwise indicated.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

FAIR web site

  • FAIR Topical Guide:

External links

Printed material

  • Stephen D. Ricks & John W. Welch, Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Co. ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1994) ISBN 0875797679.GospeLink
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