HOMBTBEEB ANT> HONEY PHODUOTIOW. 



21 



to suffer the most severe losses, and such keepers are not as a 

 rule among those whose reports are included in these tables. 



While the losses under such conditions are very severe, 

 poor beekeeping is tending to its own correction, as brood 

 diseases, once they attain a foothold in a community, soon 

 eliminate the inefficient and careless beekeepers by elimi- 

 nating their bees, while the informed and attentive apiarist is 

 able to control these diseases, though sometimes only through 

 the expenditure of much time, effort, and expense. 



Losses are frequently reported as being caused by the bee 

 moth (wax moth), but it is well known to experienced bee- 

 keepers that these insects are imable to cause serious injury 

 to strong colonies. In weak or dying colonies, where the bees 

 are unable to care for and protect the comb, the moths 

 deposit eggs in the hive and its contents are rapidly destroyed 

 by their larva. Ants, to the contrary, can and frequently do 

 destroy colonies, particularly in the South. Skunks and 

 nuce occasionally ruin colonies. 



Table VI. — Honey production: Annval yields per colony. 



State. 



Aver- 

 ages 

 years, 

 1913-17. 



Uaine 



New Hampslilre . 



Vermont 



Massachusetts 



Bhode Island 



Connectleut. . - 



New York 



New Jersey 



Pennsylvania . 

 Delaware 



Maryland 



Virginia.... 



West Virginia.., 

 North Carolina. . 

 South Carolina.. 



Georgia. 

 Florida . . 

 Ohio.... 

 Indiana. 

 Illinois.. 



Pounds. 

 38 

 36 

 34 

 29 

 42 



32 

 45 

 35 

 39 

 26 



33 

 37 

 27 

 3Q 

 27 



37 

 44 

 47 



' 1899 and 1909 deduced from United States Census Reports, 1913-1917, based on reports 

 to Bureau of Crop Estimates from honey producers. 



