At 08:45 AM 4/1/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Did anyone see this?  Try http://www.usgov.gov/news/aprlflls/
 
a better place to start is this USDA search engine at:
 
http://www.usda.gov/Harvest/brokers/USDA/
 
>(I take no responsibility for the content of that purported site and
>advise readers to verify the facts before reacting.  The purported article
>is too long to quote here, so I'll just use a few lines here and there...
>and you can search for the rest).
 
>> USDA Opens Borders to Importation of New Zealand Bees
 
APRIL FOOL!  You dirty old man you got me but I needed to check in and see
if anything new was going on at our USDA  web sites anyway.
 
I did find some interesting puff pieces from the USDA establishing some of
the foundation for the ideas and bee research they may do or are doing. One
of these I really found interesting is the idea that all varroa mites in
the US are really European and the one's in South America are Asian and
that explains why in South America the Vampire mites do NOT cause the
dramatic reduction of bees they do in the US. To read about this go to:
 
http://www.ars.usda.gov/afm/hrd/arspostdocs/guzman.html
 
Another is the cure for mites being smaller size cells in foundation found at:
 
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/beecells0597.htm
 
Both of these could have been released on April 1, but sadly they were not
and are the basis for USDA policy on these subjects today.
 
Have a good one, April Fool...
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
See the "killer" flower at:
http://209.76.50.54
 
 
 
(c)Permission is given to copy this document
in any form, or to print for any use.
 
(w)OPINIONS are not necessarily facts. USE  AT OWN RISK!