November 24th 1866. Corn Cob Winter Passages. When in
Washington in October last I devised what
seems to me an admirable plan for making and fixing winter
passages of corn cobs. Let the cobs have a hole bored in them
not too large [diagram] so as to leave a good face in the winter
passage so that the bees will not make comb so near the
hole as to want to go in. By sawing clefts in the sides of these
they can be made to run up and down on strips of tin 1/4 inch wide two
or more could be wired, and may be kept at any height. Tins running
through top and lower rail of frames will wonderfully stiffen them
and make it impossible to tear them apart. Tins will also tend
to hold the combs much firmer in the frames to bees stretching or
rotating to get honey out of comb. 
[diagrams]
Cork would do instead of cobs
but too expensive. Wood might be fixed on some plan, elder, etc. ,
but cobs best. These winter cobs should be scant 6/8 inches so as
to keep their face so as not to interfere with slicing off the
caps of cells to drain out honey. The [illegible] face will permit them
to be made of less than depth of combs without being filled in by bees. 
Fine annealed iron wire might
answer a much better one for filling
cob or cork passage [illegible] tin is cheaper
and much easier to adjust. To run from upright to upright, cheapest, best,
if only it would stiffen the frames. An awl with wire easily managed. 
This last seems to me best. Stocks large
or small seem to find the passage. 
December 11th. Notice that when only center passage is left [inserted: some] bees towards outside combs
are caught outside of main cluster and perish. This shows the need of the three passages. 
Think I shall prefer pieces of old carpet be put over the top of the frames to any
cob arrangement, too much heat passes up into the cobs. 