HONEYBEES AND HONEY PEODUCTTON. 
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 unable 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 
mice occasionally ruin colonies. 
Table VI. — Honey production: Annual yields per colony . 
State. 
1899 1 
19091 
1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 
1917 
Aver- 
age 5 
years, 
1913-17. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Maine 
18 
15 
38 
30 
36 
52 
35 
38 
New Hampshire 
16 
14 
27 
30 
48 
38 
38 
36 
Vermont 
14 
16 
33 
20 
35 
38 
42 
34 
Massachusetts 
13 
13 
31 
22 
30 
36 
26 
29 
Rhode Island 
17 
11 
45 
40 
35 
36 
55 
42 
Connecticut 
11 
15 
35 
28 
26 
33 
37 
32 
New York 
18 
20 
37 
22 
59 
65 
40 
45 
New Jersey 
12 
15 
40 
12 
31 
66 
25 
35 
Pennsylvania 
16 
15 
45 
28 
34 
54 
33 
39 
Delaware 
10 
10 
21 
20 
30 
36 
22 
26 
Maryland 
11 
13 
40 
25 
22 
46 
30 
33 
Virginia 
12 
13 
38 
35 
47 
32 
33 
37 
15 
14 
20 
25 
33 
25 
33 
27 
10 
10 
25 
28 
42 
23 
30 
30 
South Carolina 
9 
9 
25 
18 
23 
35 
35 
27 
Georgia 
9 
30 
30 
32 
33 
44 
34 
Florida 
17 
19 
50 
42 
65 
85 
86 
66 
Ohio 
13 
10 
50 
23 
22 
60 
30 
37 
Indiana 
14 
8 
60 
25 
26 
62 
49 
44 
Illinois 
16 
9 
60 
17 
44 
81 
33 
47 
1 1899 and 1909 deduced from United States Census Reports, 1913-1917, based on reports 
to Bureau of Crop Estimates from honey producers. 
