Kirt,
<< But here you are proving Tom's point, aren't you? The "crabapples" are
 harder to eat than a red delicious apple, no? Conversely, it would be
 easier to overeat on the red delicious, no? Or am I missing something here?
>>

Kirt, I think his point was that MN directs us as to precisely when to eat a
fruit, and thus spread its seed.  And I may be wrong here, but I thought that
crabapples were a different thing entirely than "regular" apples.  I
understood Rex to be talking about "regular" apples that were not yet ripe
(this is what we used to call "green apples.")  Rex - correct me if I'm wrong.

Love Liza