The only evidence was cut into a tree and a fence: the letters C-R-O and the word Croatoan,C-R-O-A-T-O-A-N.

VOA: special.2009.08.17

The sense of the sentence pushes us on to the next line, which alters our view of the meaning of the word "fruit:": "Of Man's First Disobedience and the Fruit / of that Forbidden Tree."

句意迫使我们看下一句，看了这句我们对“果子“的理解也发生变化：,“关于人类最初违反天神命令偷尝禁树的果子“

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

What it suggests is that "tree" is another word for "arbor."

指的就是“tree“是，“arbor“的另一种说法“

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选