Speaking of Jay Smith, he wrote in 1919:

OUTDOOR WINTERING. By Jay Smith.

The problem of wintering our bees has been discussed for many years ; but still it is doubtful if we fully realise the importance of bringing our bees through the winter in the very best of conditions. If a colony comes through the winter alive, too many are satisfied and believe that because the colony is alive at all, that it "lived through," living through is all that could be expected.

In reality many are losing ALL of their colonies, for spring finds them with more NUCLEI, not COLONIES. When the honey flow comes on in May or June, the beekeeper secures a small crop, if any at all, for the bees used this honey crop to build up on and become strong only after the honey flow is over, only to go through this same dwindling process the next winter.

[In our region, professional beekeepers have been taking their south for the winter for decades. That way they have real colonies to pollinate the apples and make a spring honey crop. If your flow comes later, you can make a crop with nucs or packages, but you can't get spring pollination contracts with them. Although, I know that some growers may accept X number of nucs as a colony equivalence.] 

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