ro BEE-KEEPING FOR PROFIT 
After the worker’s trial flight, she proceeds 
upon her duties as a food supplier to the com- 
munity. She has had some experience as a 
‘‘nurse’’ in handling pollen, so that at first it 
seems but natural she should give most attention 
to that food, and, in cleaning her body from its 
clinging particles, she finds out the uses of her 
several organs. In the beginning her loads of 
pollen are often small, but with experience her 
carrying capacity soon finds its limit. In time 
she discovers nectar in the flowers, and as she 
becomes less able to gather pollen she increases 
her honey-collecting power. When nectar is 
abundant bees will often commence their work 
at sunrise and continue throughout the day until 
sunset. In such a ‘‘ honey-flow’’ the average 
life of the worker from the time she leaves the 
cell is seldom more than six or eight weeks, 
every minute of which is given up to the 
communal labour. The whole of the work 
inside the hive depends upon the worker—she 
is architect, builder, caretaker, nurse, sanitary 
officer and the rest; there is method in every- 
thing she does, so it is inadvisable to interfere 
unnecessarily with any part of it. She objects 
strongly to undue interference, to mere curiosity 
of inquisitive humans. The worker bees are, 
indeed, wondrous creatures: they are known to 
