Top: The russet-resistant Smoothee, discovered in 1958, is the widest planted strain of Golden Delicious in the United States. (Photo courtesy of Willow Drive Nursery.) Bottom left: A promotion card that the Washington Apple Commission used in 1958–1959. Bottom Right: Goldspur, shown in the Van Well Nursery catalog of 1963, was a bud mutation of Golden Delicious discovered by Grady Auvil. It was a heavy bearer but more prone to russet than a standard Golden. (Photo courtesy of Van Well Nursery.) Golden Delicious, the official fruit of West Virginia, originated as a chance seedling on a hillside at Porter’s Creek […]