>Finally, these observations and comments only apply to beekeeping in the
>northern part of the country.  For reasons that I forget, tracheal mites
are
>a far more serious pest in the warmer parts of the country.

The mites do the most damage when the bees are in cluster. In Florida we go
years without having weather cold enough for the bees to need to cluster
more than overnight, that is they are out flying the next day.