<<<Although it adds to the interest, I believe that queen selection and queen
rearing are vastlyover-rated pastimes.>>>

I disagree.  Having  spent all the war years abroad I came home to find my
bees dead and the hives vandalised. I spent two years collecting a motley lot
of swarms and bees from derelict apiaries. At the end of another five  years,
by careful selection and culling,  I had twenty  plus stocks whose queens
laid lots of eggs,  whose bees  were docile and who were reluctant to swarm.
From then on it was just a question of continual assessment,regular
re-queening and getting rid of the occasional mis-match. In a lifetime of
beekeeping I have never bought in a queen.
There are strains of bees which are inveterate swarmers and other strains not
so eager. If you find a stock which has not swarmed in two or three years you
have something to work on. If you  requeen from swarm cells you will be
forever chasing swarms.

   <<<<The wise old men from whom I learnt used to reckon that non  swarming
colonies do not produce much harvest.>>>
This again is just not true.  Lose a swarm and you lose half your nectar
gatherers at a critical time. Catch the  swarm and you have the work ot
hiving it and returning it later  to where it came from.
In our uncertain climate, where nectar flows are cut short due to changing
weather conditions we need a hive full of bees from April to July, ready to
rush out whenever the sun shines.
                                                 Sid P.