> The definition of natural does not necessitate that something must be
'native' in order for it to be natural. In biology, natural is defined as:
Not produced or changed artificially; not conditioned: natural immunity; a
natural reflex.  Nothing mentioned about native.

* OK. Then why, when a non-native species is introduced into a new area, it
is then referred to as "naturalized"? 

The term "nature" is used so much and in so many different ways, that it is
essentially meaningless (or at least, it has multiple meanings). One person
says: Nature is that which is not human-created. Another says that
*everything* is Nature. We could debate this forever. 

But to say that bees are suffering from varroa because of the use of
chemicals is absurd. The varroa came first, not the chemicals. I have
watched hundreds of untreated hives perish. This is not some isolated
phenomenon. When an introduced pest finds a niche, it's do or die.

I would avoid any method or theory that claims to work always and
everywhere. The situation is just more complicated than that. Each person
must work out his or her own technique. And after being a close student of
nature for 50 years, I afraid I know less about what THAT means than ever.

pb

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little
statesmen and philosophers and divines. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

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