>IIRC, in the RW, apple growing was a late invention of civilization
>(? Roman). Because it depends on grafting (?), which is not an
>immediately obvious way of growing a tree (?).
>So how is in Glorantha? Do eating-apple trees grow from
>eating-apples? Or are they grafted?
Here's the URL for the Real Cider and Perry Homepage:
http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/GraftonG/cider/homepage.htm
On which it say that the earliest mentions of both apples and pears is in the Odyssey and there are Roman descriptions of apple cultivation as early as the late Republic. Wild apples (Malus Silvestris) grew in Britain, were used as food during Neolithic times, and apple trees were planted by Druid next to sacred Oak groves, likely as hosts for misteltoe. Apple orchards were indeed introduced to Britain by the Romans.
If the Orlanthi are able to grow grapes then I see no reason they couldn't use the grafting technique for fruit trees. Or maybe they just use ancient magics to tame wild apple tree spirits? YGMV. Different clans could grow different varieties of apples for mythic reasons (Elmali might favor yellow-skined apples, frex.) while the Lunar invaders are replacing green apples with red ones, same for pears, using magic.
Alex Ferguson then says:
>At the risk of sounding positively Greek in my use of logic without
>experimental or anecdotal evidence, I'd suppose that the existence
>of said large pines implies such winters are not exactly common...
No, but in Japan, they wrap the trunks and large branches of very old pines with straw to insulate them from severe cold snaps. In any case, weather is largely a gm tool useful for helping or hindering the players, so once we do have a base to work from we can fiddle with the weather all we want to suit our scenarios. =)
>I dunno, those large shaggy ungulates are blurring together at this stage,
>for me... Why Fronela?
Not Fronela in particular, I suppose any artic or sub-artic animal might be found along the edges of Valind's Glacier which *mostly* means Fronela. Any except for the Polar Bear cause Harrek is wearing him.
Gary R Switzer
Aero Hobbies
"The Rathori bear-folk often raid their Uncoling neighbors to take their reindeer or 'caribu' as they are called (or even the Uncolings themselves) as prey. In order to have a meal ready to hand when they wake, ravenous, from their long winter hibernation, the Rathori preserve their meat (which is finer grained than moose) in the following fashion: they heat water mixed with honey, salt, ashes (for the soda), and saltpeter. Weighing the meat down with stones in large crocks or kegs, they then pour the brine mixture over it, seal tightly and store in a cool place. Easy to do in a land where it always seems to be cold! We traded for a finished crock and were dismayed to find it repellant looking, but our cook drained, rinsed and patted dry the meat and produced thin slices of meat which we ate with gusto and lasted, if kept in its brine, for the rest of the season."
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