Was that plugging an unplugging holes in the
> front to move bees up?

Yes. I think Allen has a better memory than he is admitting to!

Farrar used up to five 6 5/8  supers for each queen to raise brood and would
plug the hole in the bottom super when about full of brood and unplug the
next above. repeating as the bees moved through the supers. Farrar said the
bees and queen would move right up when the upper hive entrance was in the
new brood area. Farrar also thought you could get a queen to move down with
the corks.
 Many beeks thought that the Farrar method of five 6 5/8 was poor due to the
three spaces the bees had to cross when when using two deeps the bees had
only one space to cross. I really believe Farrar found these beeks had a
point and his solution was the cork method.

I think by now all beekeepers realize that although upward movement is most
liked by the bees the bees will move down as well when the need arises.
Experiments I have run on if the bees prefer up or down
have been almost equal put in all cases *in my experiments* the vast
majority when give a choice and all things being equal the bees will move
upward by a *slight* margin.

I found that the hive population needs to be of a level in the next upper 
box before the queen will enter. Perhaps with getting the foragers arriving 
in the upper box ,needing bees to receive the nectar and pollen somehow 
entices the queen to move up before she normally would. Only a guess.

In any case Farrar promoted the idea as an alternative to reversing.

bob

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