OLDMIXON CLING
1. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 218. 1817. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 231. 1832. 3. Prince Pom. Man. 2:23. 1832. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 497. 1845. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 211. 1856. 6. Fulton Peach Cult. 198. 1908. 7. Waugh Am. Peach Orch. 205. 1913.
Oldmixon. 8. Hoffy Orch. Com. 1:1841-42. 9. Elliott Fr. Book 278. 1854.
Without question one of the oldest American peaches, going back at least 150 years, Oldmixon Cling is still well worthy a place in every orchard where high quality is a prime requisite. It is a rich, luscious, white-fleshed peach, ripening late, which, besides being excellent in quality for dessert and culinary purposes, is uncommonly handsome—a combination of characters possessed by few other peaches. The color-plate is almost a perfect picture of the variety and could the flavor be as well conveyed to readers, Oldmixon Cling might again take on some of its one time popularity. We can discover but one fault in the fruits as they grow on the Station grounds—the pits crack badly. The variety, however, seems to be passing out because the trees are not, as a rule, fruitful though in all other respects they are seemingly near perfection.
There is no trace of when, where or how Oldmixon Cling originated. Coxe[264] first set forth its merits in 1817. It is reported to have been introduced from Europe by Sir John Oldmixon but Downing believes that it was the pit and not the tree which Oldmixon brought to America. At any rate the variety takes its name from its supposed introducer. If the pit were planted by Sir John Oldmixon, this must be the oldest of our peaches for Oldmixon came to America nearly 200 years ago. He was, by the way, the author of one of the early and notable books on America, The British Empire in America, published in London in 1741. Pomologists from time to time have made two words of the name making it appear that old and new Mixon peaches existed. Oldmixon Cling was placed in the fruit-list of the American Pomological Society in 1856 and ever since has retained a place there. In 1881 the Society changed the name from Old Mixon Cling to Oldmixon Cling.
OLDMIXON CLING
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, rather unproductive; trunk medium to thick, smooth; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown tinged with light ash-gray; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with tendency to rebranch, red intermingled with dull green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous conspicuous, large, raised lenticels.
Leaves six and three-fourths inches long, one and one-half inches wide, flattened or curled downward, oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth becoming rugose along the midrib; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with one to four small, globose glands variable in color and position.
Flower-buds large, conical or pointed, plump, pubescent, appressed or somewhat free; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers three-fourths inch across, light pink at the center deepening to darker pink at the margins, often in twos, sometimes in threes; pedicels short, green; calyx-tube reddish-green at the base, greenish-yellow within, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes short, narrow, acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals round-oval, nearly entire, tapering to claws tinged with red at the base; filaments three-eighths inch long, equal to or longer than the petals; pistil pubescent near the base, usually equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit matures late; about two and one-half inches in diameter, round or roundish-oval, bulged along one side, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity medium to deep, wide, variable in shape; suture shallow, becoming deeper toward the apex and extending beyond; apex round, with a recurved, mucronate or prominent and prolonged mamelon tip; color creamy-white, with a blush of lively red and faint splashes of darker red; pubescence fine, short, thick; skin thin, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh white, faintly stained with red near the pit, juicy, stringy, tender, melting, sweet but sprightly, pleasantly flavored; very good in quality; stone clinging, one and seven-sixteenths inches long, one and one-eighth inches wide, ovate to oval, bulged on one side, flattened near the base, plump, long-pointed, with grooved surfaces; ventral suture deeply grooved along the edges, furrowed; dorsal suture grooved, with tendency to wing.