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["tanis cuff" <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

This from a local 'Master Gardener', who likes gardening, and history, and 
is originally from Oregon:
_________________________________________________


------------- Forwarded message follows -------------

>From a narrative from Oregon via the Library of Congress...

Federal Writers' Project, Works Progress Administration

OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES

Name of worker-- Sara B. Wrenn Date January 30, 1939

Address--  506 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon

Subject-- Early Horticultural History and Lore.

Name and address of informant-- Mrs. Herman Ledding 2105 Harrison Street,
Milwaukie, Oregon.

Here's a story in which you may be interested. I don't know just what
year this occurred, but sometime in the early '60's, I think. Anyway
the Lewelling Nursery had ordered a consignment of peach stones from
somewhere in the eastern states, and the shipment was delivered and
unloaded at Portland. Peach-growing in Oregon was as yet untried,
so that this peach stone shipment was awaited with more than a little
interest. Noah Habler, behind a safe team and a good, sound farm wagon,
was sent to Portland after the peach stones. Now, Noah was a good
ordinarily, but he was a bit fond of his fire-water. The first thing he
did at Portland was to get loaded himself. After that he piled his
bags of peach pits in the wagon, climbed to his seat, gathered up
his "lines," clucked to his horses and jogged homeward. Finally, after
an all-day's trip, and still a bit the worse for his liquor, he arrived
at the nursery. The consignees came out to investigate their long-
awaited shipment, only to find a practically empty wagon. Noah, it
seemed, had overlooked replacing the wagon tailboard, the bags had
jostled open, and, as was soon discovered, a trail of peach pits
extended all along the muddy highway from Portland to Milwaukie
(oregon), making it necessary to send another and more trustworthy man
to follow along Noah's trail in pursuit of the elusive peach stones.

. . .

To get back to the Lewellings and their nursery, that the Bing cherry
was named in honor of a Chinese workman, is fairly well known, but not
much has been told about the Chinese himself. He was a northern
Chinese, of the Manchou race, the men and women of which are large, and
very unlike the usual Cantonese Chinese with which we are familiar.
Bing was close to six feet tall, if not more, He was foreman of the
gang of thirty or more Chinese usually working in the orchards, and he
worked here on contract for some thirty years. But he had a family back
in China, or at least he had a wife there, to whom he sent money
regularly, and this wife had adopted six or seven boys, so that Bing
was sure to have sons to provide for the traditional ancestor worship.
Bing was always talking about his family, he wanted to go back and see
his wife and sons. Finally in '89 or '90 he went, and while he was in
China the Oriental exclusion law was passed, and Bing was never able to
return {Begin page no. 4}to the United States. He was very fond of the
song, "Ol' Black Joe," which he would sing over and over again in a low
minor key, Chinese fashion.

The manner in which the cherry was named for him happened thus: He and
my step-father were working the trees, every other row each. When they
discovered this tree with its wonderful new cherry, someone
said, "Seth, you ought to name this for yourself," "I've already got
one in my name," Seth responded (the Lewelling), "No, I'll name this
for Bing. It's a big cherry and Bing's big, and any way it's in his
row, so that shall be its name."

The Lewelling cherry was a prize-winner at the Philadelphia Centennial
Fair, or the Philadelphia International Exhibition, as it is named on
the bronze medal, which we have. The cherry sold for a dollar a pound
in Philadelphia that year.

from: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpa/30010209.html