Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
: The message
: from goff contains these words:

: But isn't that how the Bramleys cooker came about.

: Thinking about it, isn't that how all have come about, by crossing and
: seeing what happens.

: Yes, but the failure rate is very high. Only one every now and again makes it.

I think the "success" rate may be a little better than most people are
prdicting here - but the timescales and land needed mean that it would be
a lot of work to try them out.

Current researchers/breeders are looking for apples with specific
commercial criteria that match the commercial growing, picking, packing
and selling regimes of today. For own use the criteria can be a lot more
relaxed and hence there will be more "successes".