Thanks, Sid for your supplement to this thread.  The comparisons are very
interesting - management is timed somewhat differently and there are
certain traditions that become much of a routine.
 
In short, yes, we can make splits and still get a good crop, at least in
much of the Northeast, because the diversity of forage allows for honey
flows from May until October, with a pretty reliable fall flow from aster
and goldenrod.  I know some beekeepers around here (upstate NY) who split
ALL their colonies and build them up on the early flows, to concentrate on
the Aug-Oct flows and they get enormous crops, while nipping the swarming
problem at the same time.
 
Not that each nectar source yields every year, but overall we can get a
crop from a number of (potential) nectar flows thru the season.   It's not
so much whether or not you get a crop, but what does the crop consist of?
This makes things interesting -- you never know what the predominant honey
will be when it comes to extracting.  Last year, unfortunately, it was
honeydew!
 
Sometimes i've made splits in May that barely made enough to winter on.
Other years they fill four supers with honey besides.  Most years they'll
get you 2 supers anyway, nicely full.  I consider myself fortunate to be in
this part of the country for beekeeping.   In the UK you have to depend so
much on rape i guess, which is EARLY, and the bees like to swarm on that
flow!  I got several supers filled one spring at an outyard with canola
(rape) since there were some gorgeous fields of it blooming nearby.
Majority granulated solid well before it ever got near the extractor.  It
was amazing - like a brick!  What i did extract had a nice but somewhat
bland flavor.  That yard is no longer situated there since the mites did
them in.  Rape is more of a trial crop around here but it is getting some
promotion and may become much more common.
 
I wonder if goldenrod predominates anywhere there (UK).  Around here, every
single field that is not being cultivated is chock full of goldenrod and
during bloom the countryside is spread with yellow, from about Sept. until
frost.   I think goldenrod is grown as an ornamental in the UK but does it
also grow wild?  Thanks, JG