Definition of "fructify"

Atop the [Palmito] tree is a pith, in taſte better then Cabbage; and eating it takes avvay the future benefit of grovvth or fructifying, theſe and the Date-tree thriue not, except the male and female be vnited, and haue copulation: the ſhe is only fruitfull.A noun use.

1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Mohelia, Its Description”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Travaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, page 24

It is good to detect hints of a more aggressive attitude from the B.T.C. in face of constant reminders of accumulated deficits and niggling for economies before modernisation schemes have had a chance fully to fructify [...].

1959 August, “Talking of Trains: Reappraisal is completed”, in Trains Illustrated, page 345

When fruit trees are to be planted it is good practice to plant alternate rows of different varieties of the same fruit, because the pollen of one variety is often wanted to fructify or fertilise the flowers of another.

1901 May 10, “Gleanings”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record‎, volume 4, number 5, page 136

He slew the Bull (symbol of the gross Earth which the sunlight fructifies).

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 21