Tree vigorous, somewhat spreading, regular in form, compact, very productive; branches stocky, nearly horizontal but often curved downward; branchlets with short internodes, reddish-brown nearly covered with silver-gray scarf-skin; leaves medium to large, dark green, ovate-oblong, coarsely and deeply serrate; petiole rather short, with two large, reniform glands near the base of the leaf; buds large, ovate; flowers of medium size, opening very early. Fruit matures very early; medium to rather small, ovate-cordate, angular, irregular in outline; color dark red becoming nearly black when fully ripe; stem one and three-quarters inches long, rather thick; flesh purplish-red, with abundant juice, soft and tender, sweet, well flavored; of good quality; stone medium in size, roundish-ovate. BESSARABIAN _Prunus cerasus_ =1.= _Ia. Agr. Col. Bul._ 53. 1885. =2.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =2=:38. 1888. =3.= _Ibid._ =19=:549. 1892. =4.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =17=:6. 1892. =5.= _Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 244. 1894. =6.= _U. S. D. A. Pom. Rpt._ 39, 40. 1895. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 17. 1897. =8.= _Del. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:122, 123 fig. 8, 124. 1900. =9.= _Wash. Sta. Bul._ =92=:12. 1910. By general consent Bessarabian has a place in home orchards in the colder parts of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Plains. It is very hardy and is said to thrive even under neglect--standing as much abuse as a forest tree. As compared with standard commercial cherries of the East the fruit is distinctly inferior in size and quality, being hardly fit to eat out of hand, and is sour and astringent even when cooked. The trees, though hardy and healthy, are dwarfish and not productive because of the smallness of the cherries. It is an early cherry but the fruit hangs long. The variety is said to root well from cuttings, which, if true, might make it worth while trying as a stock. Bessarabian is a variant of English Morello, the fruit of which sort greatly excels it wherever the trees can be equally well grown. This variety was brought to America from Russia about 1883, by Professor J. L. Budd of Ames, Iowa, who believed it to belong to a race of cherries originally found in central Asia. Tree of medium size, upright, becoming somewhat spreading, compact, healthy, unproductive, very hardy; branches somewhat drooping, long, slender; leaves abundant, medium to small, oval, coarsely serrate, dark green, broad, flat; glands few, usually on the stalk at the base of the leaf.