> It appears that you may have missed the point of me posting the data.
>
Did you post data?  I must have missed it.

> I was not trying to relate it to winter losses of Canadian beekeepers
> nor U.S. hobby beekeepers.  This was only in relationship to
> commercially-managed colonies going to almond pollination.

I don't think so.  My comments were intended to be general, and in
context of the overall losses reported in North America

> From this data set we stand to learn a great deal about what
> actually causes in context of the overall losses in North in context
> of the overall losses in North America America colony winter losses.

My point is that, from what you posted, your study did not include an
outfit that had 100% loss, or any colonies north of some point (Grass
Lake?) in California.  I'm not saying the work is not valuable, but just
that it may not be representative in context of the discussion of North
American losses.  I mean 'representative' in the statistical sense.

I can see that the intent could be misinterpreted depending on the
context assumed.  I was saying or meaning to say that what seemed to be
a very small sample compared to the millions of colonies scattered all
over North America could not safely be considered as representative of
the Big Picture unless it included some catastrophic losses and the
northern regions as well.  Even for the almond picture, lack of data
from the northern suppliers could be questioned.

> I have been lucky enough these past few years to be in a position to
>  run or participate in large-scale controlled trials from which we
> are learning a great deal about colony survival, morbidity, and
> mortality. We just completed one involving three beekeepers (Florida,
> Texas, and Calif) in which we accurately graded colonies for strength
> monthly over the course of the winter, as well as taking samples from
> every hive to measure mites, viruses, and nosema (270 colonies
> involved).

Anyhow, my intent was not to criticize your work, but to point out that
it is only representative of what was examined.

I am only going by what I understand you to have written here, not by 
what you did not write.

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