onagold, one of Europe's most widely grown varieties, is one of many successes from the Cornell apple breeding program at the Agricul- tural Experiment Station. Some others have been Cortland, Empire, Macoun and scab-resistant Liberty.

Traditional apple breeding, using controlled pollination is a lengthy process. In the case of Jonagold, a Jonathan/Golden Delicious cross, the initial cross (Jonathan pollen brushed onto the stigmas of Golden Delicious blossoms) was done in 1943. The resulting apple seeds were planted and in 1953, out of the hundreds of surviving seedlings from this cross, breeders made a single selection. This selection became Jonagold, which wasn't released for sale to commercial nurseries until 1968—a quarter of a century after the original cross.