> Canadian beekeepers gassed their hives, replaced
>  them all every year and still made a fat profit

This was only true in the past.
It is not at all true today.
The key factor was cheap packages from the US, available on a reliable
basis.
The other key factor was that they had not worked out how to overwinter bees
in such harsh winters.
This no longer is the case, mostly due to Canada's own border closure.

But these practices were unique to the far North - the sharp and sudden
spring, the very long days of summer at very high latitudes, and the seeming
impossibility of overwintering any hives made that practice seem more
attractive.  Once they learned how to overwinter bees, they fared better
than they had with annual packages.

> However, a skilled beekeeper can split 1 for 10 or even 20 and still make
a decent honey crop.

I'd like to see a split 1 for 20 and a resulting decent honey crop.  Giving
each split several boxes of pre-drawn comb would be robbing Peter to make
Paul's yield per hive look artificially better, but this would appear to be
the only way to make it work.

> Or else do even better selling bees to beekeepers in the city.

Actually, one of the reasons NYC remains relatively disease and pest-free as
compared to rural locations in the tiny number of hives imported as nucs or
full-sized colonies.  Packages can be treated with oxalic, and we treat 100%
of them, and making our own splits and nucs reduces the need for anything
more than queens to be brought in from outside.  A few people have tried to
sell nucs from outside the city, and they have not prospered in the attempt.

> ...we were told back in the 1950s and 1960s...

But unlike prior one-shot events where large losses were suffered, the
current level of regular annual losses show no sign of easing.
It used to be that beekeepers could significantly increase their hive count
by splitting, now it seems that many can barely keep ahead of the losses.

One may safely and languidly handwave the problem away when one has a "day
job" that does not involve a hive tool, but sit down and talk with anyone
who has been in the business "pre varroa", and ask them if their current
financials are "healthy" or "a death spiral" by comparison.

I am very glad that I sold my operation just when Almond pollination fees
were high, and before the CCD scare.

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