HONEYBEES AND HONEY PEODUOTION. 15 



Table IV. — Honeybees: Losses by disease andin wintering — Continued. 



LOSSES. 



The losses of bees by disease, principally foulbrood, during 

 the summer, range from practically nothing to almost 10 per 

 cent in some States, though the latter figures are exceptional 

 and may be due to mistaking starvation for disease. The 

 losses to bees in wintering are severe, ranging for the United 

 States as a whole from 10 to almost 15 per cent, and rising 

 in some States to almost 50 per cent in the winter of 1916-17. 

 Details for three years are shown in Table IV. The losses 

 for the winter of 1917-18, owing to an early and exceedingly 

 severe winter, are reported at 18.7 per cent, more than a half 

 greater than the average of the three preceeding winters, and 

 the heaviest -in a long perio^ of years. 



