Re Ontario's losses:

Maybe if he had compared the winter losses to neighboring states instead of the distant prairies he would have gotten a better picture. Our losses here in NY were almost the same as Ontario. The region around the great lakes was hit hard compared to other regions of North America. I believe it had to do with the lakes freezing over.

Illinois 61%
Indiana 65%
Michigan 61%
New Hampshire 57%
New York 50%
Ohio 58%
West Virginia 52%
Wisconsin 59%

Source: BeeInformed Partnership

I shall remind the reader of a comment made by E. F. Phillips one hundred years ago: "The beekeepers of the United States lose at least one-tenth of their colonies of bees every winter. This is a minimum loss, which is frequently increased to one-half and sometimes more in certain sections."

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. 

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