> > the question should not be whats the decline,  but what was the rise?

Looking at Randy's graph could it be that the increase in the mid to late 80's was brought when tracheal mites and Varroa started to take over the bee havers dropped out and left the beekeepers?  Varroa and tracheal mites would have made the beekeepers start to look more carefully at hives as was the same case here in Australia in the late 1970's and 80's when EFB came on the scene.  I know that many beekeepers here in Oz said that EFB made them better beekeepers as they now needed to manage their hives more closely.

Just an observation from down under.

Trevor Weatherhead
Australia

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html