The process of grafting, which is distinct from hybridization (genes are not combined/exchanged), has been known since before 323 BC, when Theophrastos wrote that it is necessary to improve on wild types. Many of Chapman’s trees produced little or no fruit, unfit even for cider. For a lengthy, but well-written and amusing, treatment of apples and Appleseed, see Michael Pollan’s extraordinary book, The Botany of Desire (http://www.npr.org/programs/talkingplants/radio/010604.pollan.html).