This variety originated in France as a chance seedling about 1883 and fruited first in 1891. It was introduced a few years later by M. Auguste Pélissier, a nurseryman at Château-Renard, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Although not yet well established even in France, this cherry is considered promising for market, because of its firm flesh, handsome appearance, high quality and good tree-characters. It is included among the major varieties in The Cherries of New York that the attention of American cherry-growers may be called to it. As yet it seems not to have been tried in this country. The following description is compiled:

Tree upright, vigorous, very productive; branches rather long, large, bearing large, oval leaves; flowers large, semi-open; blooming season early.

Fruit matures from early June to the last of June; large or very large, obtuse-cordate, slightly depressed at the apex, with a shallow yet distinct suture; stem short, thick; skin rather thick, firm, yellowish almost entirely overspread with vivid red which becomes darker at maturity but often showing streaks of clear red; flesh fine-grained, firm, juicy, red with streaks of white, sweet, aromatic; quality good to very good; stone of medium size, oval, with a pronounced suture.

BING

Prunus avium

Bing is one of the best of the several very good cherries from the Pacific Northwest. But few Sweet Cherries equal it in size and attractiveness and none surpass it in quality, so that it may be said to be as good as any of the dessert cherries. It is, too, a very good shipping fruit, ranking with the best of the Bigarreaus, to which group it belongs, as a cherry for distant markets. Another quality commending the variety is that it hangs well on the trees and the crop ripens at one time so that the harvest consists of but one picking. While many cherry-growers speak well of the trees, unfortunately we cannot do so from their behavior on the grounds of this Station. They have not been as vigorous, as healthy or as productive as cherry trees should be in a commercial variety of first rank. The cause, however, may be in the location rather than in the variety, for in an orchard but a few miles distant Bing does much better than on these grounds. The variety, though comparatively new, is no longer on probation. It has a niche in the cherry flora of the country, deserving a place in the collection of every amateur by virtue of its splendid fruit. When it is happy in soil and climate, Bing is bound to be one of the leading commercial cherries.

Seth Lewelling of Milwaukee, Oregon, the originator of several of our finest cherries, grew Bing from the seed of Republican in 1875. The variety was named after a Chinese workman. In 1899 the American Pomological Society placed the variety on its fruit list.

BING

Tree large, vigorous, erect becoming upright-spreading, rather open, productive; trunk and branches thick, smooth; branches brownish with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets thick, long, with long internodes, greenish-brown, smooth, pubescent, with small, raised, conspicuous lenticels.

Leaves abundant, large, folded upward, ovate to obovate of medium thickness; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, or acute, base abrupt; margin slightly serrate, glandular; petiole long, pubescent, thickish, tinged red, with from one to three large, reniform, reddish glands on the stalk.

Fruit matures in mid-season or later; very large, one inch in diameter, broadly cordate, somewhat compressed, slightly angular; cavity deep, of medium width, abrupt, regular; suture a dark line; apex roundish or slightly depressed; color very dark red, almost black; dots small, russet, inconspicuous; stem variable in thickness, one and one-fourth inches long; skin of medium thickness, tough, adherent to the pulp; flesh purplish-red with dark purple juice, rather coarse, firm, very meaty, brittle, sweet; of very good quality; stone semi-free, large, ovate to oval, blunt, with smooth surfaces.