The bing cherry

[Randy W]

from Atlas Obscura

 

The Tragic Roots of America’s Favorite Cherry

The Chinese Exclusion Act likely exiled the man who first cultivated it.

 

 

As the foreman of Lewelling’s orchard crew, Ah Bing supervised more than 30 men. He worked closely with Lewelling on grafting, propagating, and caring for trees. The Bing cherry, Ledding recalled, surfaced one day when Lewelling and Ah Bing walked through the rows of cherry trees, where each man maintained separate rows. In Ah Bing’s row, there was a marvelous new type of cherry. Someone suggested that Lewelling name the cherry after himself. But Lewelling protested. He had already named a cherry for himself. “No, I’ll name this for Bing,” Ledding recalled him saying. “It’s a big cherry and Bing’s big, and anyway it’s in his row, so that shall be its name.”

But other stories portray Ah Bing as even more central to the development of the cherry. In 1922, the agricultural journal The Oregon Grower related that Lewelling had assigned a collection of “Black Republican” cherry seedlings to Ah Bing to care for in 1875. Ah Bing’s cultivation resulted in the Bing cherry, which, the author commented, would “pass his name down in horticultural history.”

. . .

Perhaps it was the fevered environment that spurred Ah Bing to visit his family. But he also longed for home. “Bing was always talking about his family,” Ledding said. In 1889, he returned to China for a visit. While the Chinese Exclusion Act had already passed, legislators actively plugged loopholes and made it even more restrictive. Ah Bing never returned to the U.S., and Ledding, years later, blamed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The rest of Ah Bing’s story is lost to history. After working for decades in the United States, perhaps he wanted to stay in his homeland, where he wouldn’t be threatened due to his race. It’s equally likely, though, that he tried to return, and was rejected. But Americans encounter his legacy every day, just by seeing the name “Bing” on their bags of cherries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AT Thru]

Great story...Thanks for sharing