"In the mid-1800s, there were thousands of unique varieties of apples in the United States, some of the most astounding diversity ever developed in a food crop. Then industrial agriculture crushed that world. The apple industry settled on a handful of varieties to promote worldwide, and the rest were forgotten. They became commercially extinct—but not quite biologically extinct."
Why Your Supermarket Only Sells Five Kinds of Apples
www.motherjones.com
And one man's quest to bring hundreds more back.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/04/heritage-apples-john-bunker-maine?slide=10