A few years ago when I purchased my first two nuc,s from one of the bee
inspectors in CT I was told to take all the books and articles with a grain
of salt for this reason.-  The guys writing the books and articles mostly
worked for universities and didn't get out much and that if the did not
publish they could lose their jobs or not get promoted.
   So we have experimented trying ideas on one or two hives at a time to see
if there was a catastrophe lurking or if there was any difference worth the
effort.
 
     As for you commercial types I still don't see how you do it at the
prices published for honey and pollination.  Thats damn hard work