NEW VARIETIES. 247 



"Black Mexican" has been crossed with the "Country Gentle- 

 man" and the objectionable black of that corn been modi- 

 fied to a lead color in a single generation, and we saw in the 

 last chapter how the black of a berry had been bleached white 

 by an intelligent and patient process of manipulation. If 

 it were fitting that we should here digress to speak of men 

 instead of plants, we would affirm it as our belief that it is 

 in the application of this principle that the race problem of 

 the South is eventually to be solved. The white man insists 

 that his is the only color worth having, and the colored brother 

 is very much of the white man's opinion. It may be uncon- 

 scious on their part, but to become white is probably the 

 most profound ideal of the black race in the South. Given 

 the means, and the dominating desire of a race is always 

 realized. There are no exceptions. It may require centuries, 

 and these may be marked by struggle and hardship and abuse, 

 by wrong and wrath, by lust and blood and death, but the 

 race moves forward towards its chosen end. The average 

 shade of the Southern black has been much modified since 

 the Emancipation proclamation. Considering the difference 

 between black and white as 100 per cent., the average shade 

 of the African race in the South is at least 25 per cent, nearer 

 white than it was at the close of the War, and thus, in spite 

 of the most stringent laws and social customs against inter- 

 marriage, one-fourth of the work has been finished within a 

 period of forty years. Thomas Dixon declares that one drop 

 of negro blood makes a negro, but in view of all our knowl- 

 edge upon the general subject here under consideration Mr. 

 Dixon is certainly mistaken. Because of our habits of thought 

 the consummation suggested is repulsive to our contemplation, 

 but it may be that in the long run the white man, with his 



