828 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



of birds, one or two of which he had shot. His 

 description tallies exactly with the specimen 

 brought in by Mr. George Thompson. 



Mr. C. made one good point; namely, that the 

 pinhole punctures were invariably on the top 

 side of the grape, and that the lower berries 

 were scarcely if ever pierced. If the bees made 

 these original holes, the puncture would appear 

 at almost any point. 



Both Mr. Carrington and Mr. Thompson said 

 that ihere appeared to be but very few of these 

 birds; and Mr. C. gave it as his opinion that 

 this grape-puncturing trouble could be entirely 

 remedied by using the shotgun or rifle. As 

 there are only a few of them they can be de- 

 stroyed, and the grapes will be thus left intact. 



BUCKgKIN CHARLEY. 



The subject of this sketch was a picturesque 

 and inten sling personage at the Lincoln con- 

 vention. Modest in his way, he had a warm 

 hand-shake for every one. When he introduced 

 himself as Chas. White I did not recognize in 

 him the " Buckskin Charley " and the crack 

 shot who had written for us in times past — see 

 page 363 for last year. Knowing that he had 

 an interesting history as an Indian-fighter, pio- 

 neer, hunter, and beekeeper, I asked him to 

 give me a few facts from his life, and here they 

 are- 



Mr. White was born in Holmes Co., O., and 

 lived in Ohio until he was 19 years of age. At 

 a very early age he commenced to spend much 

 of the winter season in the forests, trapping 

 and hunting, going to the northern part of 

 Michigan for that purpose. He killed his first 



deer in Defiance, O., while a lad of only 13 

 years. He soon realized that that country was 

 too tame, and consequently commenced to drift 

 west until the fall of 18G8 when he found him- 

 self in Central Nebraska, among Indians, buf- 

 falo, elk, deer, antelope, wolves, beaver, otter, 

 wildcats, and a great variety of other game. He 

 has hunted buffalo with the Indians, trapped 

 with them, camped and eaten with them, and 

 fought with and been wounded by them. He 

 had a friend shot and killed by the Sioux while 

 he was standing clo<e by his side, in 1874. He 

 has roamed over Kansas, Colorada, Dakota, 

 and spent several seasons in the mountains. He 

 went to Minnesota at the time of the big mas- 

 acre, but, fortunately for him, the Indians had 

 been captured a few days before. He had pick- 

 ed up a little knowledge of blacksmllhing 

 while in Ohio that stood him in baud after go- 

 ing west, as he could work in the shop in the 

 summer and hunt in the fall and winter. The 

 nearest shop east of him was 39 miles distant, 

 and to the west the nearest was 75 miles. It 

 was a government shop at Fort Kearney. 



As the country became settled, he commenced 

 staying at home, then he commenced keeping 

 bees and soon became enthusiastic over them,, 

 reading everything that would give him any 

 light on the subject, until his friends called 

 him an expert with bees. He has conducted a 

 great many experiments in the line of bee- 

 keeping, some of which were fairly successful. 

 One was sending queens across the seas. Queen- 

 breeding was one of his hobbies, and to get live 

 queens and bees direct from Italy was one of 

 his great troubles. He had seven queens sent 

 from there at different times, without having 

 one get to him alive. Thinking the fault was 

 in the cage, he prepared one and sent a queen 

 to Charles Bianconcini, Bologna, Italy, with in- 

 structions to change queens and reship, which 

 was done successfully. The queen was in the 

 cage 23 days before he released her. The one 

 he sent was in the cage 18 days. In each ship- 

 ment there were over 20 live bees with the 

 queen on arrival, there being 40 at the starting. 



Queen-rearing and the sale of bees kept his 

 bees in poor shape for the best results in honey. 

 Mr. While is a natural mechanic, making any 

 thing of wood or iron that he wishes. He show- 

 ed acombinalion section-closer and foundation- 

 fastener at the World's Fair, called the Buck- 

 skin section-press No. 3, receiving a diploma 

 and medal for it. 



I requested Mr. White to give a particular 

 account of what he had done with the rifle, and 

 here is his reply in his own words: 



In the winter of 1870 a friend and myself start- 

 ed to make a tiip on the upper Republican 

 River to get a load of deer. We followed the 

 Platte westward, passing through Fort Kear- 

 ney, going to the north of Plumb Creek, going 

 south from there to strike the Republican 

 River. After leaving the Pl atte Valle y we 



