The Early Reports of AFB in NZ…
If you ask the Internet, you’ll hear in no uncertain terms that AFB was first reported in NZ in 1877, and it will often have tagged on to that that it was 38 years after honey bees were first imported…
I have tried to find that ‘first report’, but haven’t found it. Lots of other information about early AFB, but not that first report.
My own feeling, not relying on the literature? Bumby, Cotton, Eliza Hobson, Mary Allom and others – someone brought AFB in, either direct from England or by way of Australia.
I think the 1877 first report date might well be correct – but for the wrong reason.
Even if AFB had been introduced in those early years (1838-say, 1870) it would not have likely been ‘found’. That is, with box hives and non-moveable frames, the presence of AFB could easily go unnoticed. If a box hive died out? It may have been re-used, but may also have been destroyed.
Combine that with the fact that no one much was writing about NZ beekeeping. Cotton did, but it wasn’t until Isaac Hopkins came along that we started to get good commentary on the industry.
So why do I think the 1877 date could still be right? It was 1876 when the first variation of a moveable-frame hive was brought into NZ – and once these (keen, interested, excitable) beekeepers were able to actually see the larvae and pupae, it might well have been that AFB was reported soon afterward. Langstroth-type hives predominated from that time, and made brood inspections possible.
I have nothing to back this up with, and maybe never will. There are still a few farming/rural publications of that time that I haven’t been able to access – maybe if I do, I’ll find something earlier than what I have here. But I’d sure have expect Hopkins and others to have referred to them if indeed they record the first finding of AFB.
In the meantime, I’ll just say how much I like chronologies. And how much I like bibliographies. And how much I really like chronological bibliographies!
References relating to the introduction of AFB to NZ
1880: Reports of AFB in Utah
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18800731.2.25
1880: Hopkins had not yet had AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18801006.2.5
1880: Hopkins quotes Utah regulations
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18801025.2.4
1880: Muth’s work on AFB referred to from US conference
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18801230.2.43
1880: Hopkins says chilled brood causes AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18800809.2.5
1880: Reference to same conference where Muth gave paper on curing AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT18801201.2.4
1880: AFB in Utah
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18800828.2.11
1881: AFB is maybe present in Otago?
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18810820.2.26
1882: Expect that a cure can be found to AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS18820831.2.20
1882: The disease is not new
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18820225.2.12
1883: AFB has been in Hawkes Bay for several seasons
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1883_10_ABJ.pdf#page=12
1884: Hopkins is hearing of AFB “from different quarters”
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1884_04_ABJ.pdf#page=7
1884: Sketchy report of AFB in North Auckland
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1884_05_ABJ.pdf#page=12
1884: Marton district has AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WH18841204.2.7
1884: Case of AFB in Chch, then was moved to South Canterbury
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18840920.2.14
1884: Hopkins describes import of Italian queens
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1884_02_ABJ.pdf#page=6
1887: Stevenson says AFB introduction to Poverty Bay was spring 1884
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1887_11_ABJ.pdf#page=9
1887: Hopkins comments in Dec 1887 that AFB was only present in some districts 8 years previously (1879)
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1887_12_ABJ.pdf#page=5
1887: “Lamh Dearg Erin” first had AFB in 1884, district unknown
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1887_12_ABJ.pdf#page=12
1888: First AFB bill
https://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_bill/fbadibpb1888701377/
1888: Hopkins says almost all districts have AFB, since 1885/86 season
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18840920.2.14
1888: Brickell (Dunedin) asks for samples to confirm AFB
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1888_02_ABJ.pdf#page=10
1888: AFB in Blenheim in spring 1877
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1888_02_ABJ.pdf#page=12
1888: Status of AFB in Otago, Wanganui, Westland
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1888_04_ABJ.pdf#page=13
1888: Belief that AFB was present in earlier years but confined to only some districts
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1888_05_ABJ.pdf#page=12
1888: AFB is raging in Hawkes Bay
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1888_06_ABJ.pdf#page=13
1889: Is our AFB the same as other parts of the world?
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18890620.2.20
1890: Call for legislation
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18900726.2.23
1891: Govt called on to act re: AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18910820.2.4
1891: Hobbs describes AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18910926.2.9
1891: Norrie claims kerosene as AFB cure
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18910901.2.5.2
1891: Hansard describes loss of honey due to AFB
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019787669&seq=426
1891: AFB has been in Otago for “many years”
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18910305.2.9
1905: AFB was prevalent 25 years ago (that would be 1880)
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19050719.2.81
1905: Hopkins says AFB in Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Poverty Bay before 1880
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1905_Dept_Ag_Bulletin_edition_1.pdf#page=9
1907: Phillips confirms AFB in NZ
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1907_11_Phillips_confirms_AFB.pdf
1910: Italian bees more susceptible to AFB in Otago?
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OAM19101210.2.44.15
1912: Thomas Allen blames Hopkins and Bricknell
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19121025.2.95.6
1912: Hopkins refutes claim he brought in AFB
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19121101.2.93.10
1912: Clarification re: bee diseases
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19121026.2.49.3
1913: NBA conference with Gibb and Kirk giving 1888 as intro (in fact, Kirk was likely referring to the first attempt at regulation)
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/NBA_conferences/1913_NBA_Conference.pdf#page=10
1913: NBA conference with Stevenson saying AFB got to Gisborne in 1885/1886
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/NBA_conferences/1913_NBA_Conference.pdf#page=13
1914: Southland had AFB problems before the Apiaries Act
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19140122.2.3
1916: Hopkins moved to Auckland and increased hives in season 1887/88. First found AFB late 1888, found it in nearby box hives.
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1916_Forty_two_Years_Beekeeping_in_NZ.pdf#page=26
1916: AFB in Hawkes Bay in the early 1880s in Hawkes Bay and Taranaki (not confirmed?) 1883 in Thames Valley. 1883 in Hawkes Bay confirmed and wide-spread.
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1916_Forty_two_Years_Beekeeping_in_NZ.pdf#page=28
1916: Hopkins took AFB with him to Chch Exhibition in 1906
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1916_Forty_two_Years_Beekeeping_in_NZ.pdf#page=39
1925: Refers to AFB being rampant in the early 1880s, and had spread throughout in 4 years
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1925_Cornell_Apis_Club.pdf#page=6
1926: Hopkins says foundation does not carry AFB infections
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1926_Australasian_Bee_Manual_ver_6.pdf#page=107
1926: Hopkins puts AFB introduction as the early 1880’s
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1926_Australasian_Bee_Manual_ver_6.pdf#page=212
1990: GM Reid gives short history of AFB, quoting 1877 as first report (provided by Hopkins)
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/timeline/1990_11_Feeding_Drugs.pdf#page=4
1991: First repeat of the year 1877 for first report of AFB
https://archive.org/details/1991_05_nzbkpr/page/5/mode/1up?q=1877
1993: Mark Goodwin article
https://archive.org/details/1993_02_nzbkpr/page/19/mode/1up?q=1877
1996: GM Reid summarises AFB information from Hopkins’s book and 1913 NBA Conference
https://www.beekeeping.nz/NZBDA/Hopkins/1996_12_GM_Reid_re_early_AFB.pdf
1999: Mark Goodwin article
https://archive.org/details/1999_06_nzbkpr/page/n7/mode/1up?q=1877
1999: Goodwin and Van Eaton “Eliminating AFB Without the Use of Drugs”
https://beekeeping.co.nz/disease/man02.htm
2009: Reprint of McCaw and Heineman from 1991
https://archive.org/details/2009_04_nzbkpr/page/48/mode/1up?q=1877