USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lincoln > Town Report on Lincoln 1906-1910 > Part 6
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2,255 00
Repairs and renewals,
453 98
Fuel,
900 10
Net gain for year,
3,974 16
$9,043 44
$9,043 44
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ASSETS.
LIABILITIES.
Construction, Cash,
$149,431 88
Bonds outstanding, t Surplus,
$ 74,000 00
712 06
79,875 74
Water bills uncollected,
2,008 80
Fuel on hand, Sinking fund,
48 00
1,675 00
$9,043 44
$153,875 74
$153,875 74
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WATER WORKS DEPARTMENT. *WATER RECEIPTS.
Domestic,
$6,064 42
Meters,
2,384 80
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$8,449 22
Uncollected 1906,
2,008 80
$10,458 02
Old accounts 1905 collected,
1,414 58
$9,043 44
¡BONDS OUTSTANDING.
Issue of 1894, due one each year,
$ 8,000 00
Issue of 1897, due 1917,
10,000 00
Issue of 1900, due 1930,
23,000 00
Issue of 1902, due 1932,
9,000 00
Issue of 1903, due 1933,
5,000 00
Issue of 1904, due 1934,
5,000 00
Issue of 1906, due 1936,
14,000 00
$74,000 00
1.
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Report of Tree Warden.
In the spring we completed the inspection of the Town for gypsy moth nests, with the exception of a few places which were well looked after by the owners.
The brown-tail-moth nests were taken off the roadside and public trees, and we completed the work the owners had not done on orchards and open borders. We then worked as the season permitted in the woods, where we could get the most nests for the time spent.
Over 30,730 brown-tail-moth nests were destroyed. The holes in a few hundred apple trees that most appeared to need it were cemented, or tinned, to keep the gypsy moths from hiding their nests in them.
Burlaps were put on where gypsy moth nests were found. At first comparatively few were used, wishing to test their usefulness, and to determine the number required. I asked the ones looking after the burlaps to see that enough were put on to be sure they were outside of where the caterpillars had spread. Of 18,600 burlaps put on 8,500 were in Mr. Nelson's woods, where 143,000 caterpillars were killed, something over- 300,000 being killed by us in the Town. The burlap used would make a strip 14 miles long, or enough to reach around the town, and being scattered so widely over the Town, required walking many times that distance to turn it on the different trees. The burlaps in the woods were left on, as they may serve for another year. The work of looking over the burlaps requiring quick as well as faithful work, and coming at a time of year when such labor is not easy to obtain, I think we were fortunate in having the help of a number of high school boys, and I was pleased with the interest they took in their work. If we did not hold the
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gypsy moths down, I wished it to be through no lack of faithful and intelligent effort.
Mr. Adams offered the services of his two men who have the care of his woods, and before leaving for Europe he told me he had left orders that they were to assist me whenever I wished. I was glad to have them have the care of his place, and some 1,000 acres outside. I also wish to thank several others who took care, in whole or in part, of their own places, as we were necessarily somewhat limited for time.
I have been unable to get a satisfactory explanation of the way the gypsy moths have spread, or are spreading over the Town. They are supposed to spread only while in the caterpillar stage.
Of the two main thoroughfares in Town, the State road had but one tree reported to have moth nests, by those who did the work for the State last spring. On the South Great Road we found no nests within the road limits.
One place near the border of the Town, where there are an average of eight teams a day, going to or from the place, for the year, no nests were found that could be accounted for as brought on the teams, while there was quite a colony on a woodlot belonging to this man, which was half a mile: from any road; and a radius of one half mile would take in practically no open land.
A farmer near in changing boxes in one of the lower Towns where he had left produce found ten gypsy moth nests on one of the boxes.
Some of the gypsy moths in orchards may have been brought on boxes or barrels in this way.
A number of the worst places in the woods are on wood roads either where hunters' teams are often tied, or where people from the lower Towns drive in for lunch.
The gypsy moths in our woods are eaten quite a little by the birds, and probably to some extent spread by them.
"I assumed the most effort should be given to the woodland. If we could hold them there it would be comparatively easy to hold them down in the orchards and open borders. The
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serious feature of the work is that the nests are scattered over all our woodland.
There were very few other Towns where the woodlands were all looked over last spring for the gypsy moths, and the nests treated.
Last year notes were kept giving the number of nests and their location on each person's place. Notes are being kept this year with that in view.
Of the twenty resident land owners on whose places we have found no gypsy moths, their combined area is less than sixty acres, but six of these have woodland, and their com- bined area is less than thirty acres-none of which has been looked over this season. In Mr. Munroe's woods last year we found 836 nests. The place was looked over carefully. This year 36,000 nests were found.
In Mr. Nelson's woods, where burlaps were used, but the woods were not thinned out, 1,060 nests were found last year, 2,800 this year.
The feeding season of the caterpillar is long, from the middle of May until the middle of August this year. .
From what information I have been able to get on the sub- ject, and our experience in the Munroe and Nelson woods, it shows that the expense of keeping the moths down increases very rapidly. with the number of nests.
There are nests in the walls in a number of places, and an oil burner to burn the hidden nests in these places, and a small sprayer to spray the brush near by could be used to advan- tage next year.
In the spring I offered to put on burlap, and look after it in the woods where we found the gypsy moth nests, if the owners would trim out the dead and useless material and underbrush and burn it.
Early in November I sent out a circular to the same effect.
As soon this fall as I could get the men I wished the work of looking for the gypsy moth nests was begun. As a general thing we are finding about three times as many as last year.
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With a few exceptions the increase is from the many new places where we find but one or two new nests.
It is not easy to tell when we may have trouble from the elm-leaf beetle. In villages or cities where the elm is the chief tree, they are more apt to suffer. Last year near us I· noticed isolated trees where the foliage was completely killed, and in the villages of Concord and Wayland the leaves of the elm were caten and turned brown.
The San Jose Scale has been found on 23 places, and is likely to cause serious damage in orchards and shrubbery, unless very thorough work is done to check it.
The millers of the lime tree moth (hybernaria tiliaria), related to the canker worm, were quite abundant over the Town in the evenings of the late fall.
Last spring I wished to trim some of our good trees along our roadsides, and cut away some of the poorer trees that were crowding them, to give them a chance to develop into good shade trees. There are many that, with a little attention now will make the roads more attractive for years to come, but the gypsy moth work seemed more urgent. Chestnut trees on the roadside, and a number on private land, have been damaged, by the use of sledge hammers to jar the nuts off.
I have been pleased to find fine specimens of quite a number of varieties of trees in our woods.
I am pleased with the faithful work done by the men who have assisted me, and the interest they have taken in it.
It will require four or five years to show what help the im- ported parasites may be. In the meantime it will require quite an effort to save the woods from such desolation and destruction as the moths have made in the woods in the Towns north of Boston.
Lincoln has about 8,000 acres, some 5,000 of which are woodland.
One does not always stop to think what a large part of the attractiveness of Lincoln is in its trees and woodlands, and what a beautiful setting they make for our homes and our fields.
EDWARD R. FARRAR.
120
Report of the Board of Health.
During the past year, only two cases of contagious disease have been reported to the Board.
Several minor nuisances have been cheerfully abated at once, when the attention of the parties at fault has been called to the nuisances by the Board.
A license to slaughter animals, having been granted on January 14, 1907, the Board of Health, feeling that a compe- tent veterinary should be appointed, designated on Janu- ary 15, 1907, W. H. Way, M.D.V. (who served as Inspector of Cattle for the U. S. Government, for over four years) as In- spector of Meat for the Town of Lincoln, and have furnished to him the Town-stamp.
A hearing was given, in relation to removing the restric- tions against slaughtering on the premises of Charles O. Sargent. The Board unanimously voted not to remove the restrictions.
The Board wish to call the attention of the inhabitants, to the fact that consumption (tuberculosis) is contagious and for the protection of the community, cach case should be reported in order that proper precautions may be taken by the Board.
SAMUEL H. PIERCE, JOS. S. HART, M. D., S. H. BLODGETT, M. D.,
121
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.
RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE
Purpose of preventing the Pollution and Securing the Sani- tary Protection of the Waters of Sandy Pond and its Tributaries, used by the Town of Lincoln, as a Source of Water Supply.
The State Board of Health hereby modifies and amends the rules and regulations adopted September 3, 1903, for the purpose of preventing the pollution and securing the sani- tary protection of the waters of Sandy Pond and its tributa- ries, used by the Town of Lincoln as a source of water supply, by striking out all of rules 13 and 14 and substituting the following rules :--
13. No person shall bathe in, and no person shall, unless permitted by a special regulation or by a written permit of the State Board of Health, fish in, or send, drive or put any animal into, Sandy Pond, so called, said pond being in the Town of Lincoln and used by said Town as a source of water supply. No person other than a member, officer, agent or employee of the Board of Water Commissioners of the Town of Lincoln or of the Board of Water Commissioners of the Town of Concord, or public officer whose duties may so require, shall, unless so permitted by regulation or permit of the said State Board of Health, enter or go, in any boat, skiff, raft or other contrivance, on or upon the water of said pond, nor shall enter or go upon, or drive any animal upon the ice of said pond.
14. No person shall enter upon Sandy Pond, so called,
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said pond being in the Town of Lincoln and used by said Town as a source of water supply, for the purpose of cut- ting or taking ice, or cut or take ice from said pond, without a written permit of the State Board of Health, stating the time and place for which such permission is given.
By order of the Board, (Signed), CHARLES HARRINGTON, Secretary.
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Regulations of the Board of Health of the Town of Lincoln.
ADOPTED JUNE 12, 1899.
PROTECTION OF WATER SUPPLY.
1. No person shall drive any horse, cow, or other neat cattle, to or into the waters of any pond in the Town of Lincoln, which is used as a source of public water supply or place any such animal on or near the shore thereof, for the purpose of permitting such animal to wade in the waters thereof, or to drink therefrom.
2. No person shall permit any cow, horse, or other domes- tic animal either belonging to him or in his care or charge, to go to or into the waters of any pond in the Town of Lincoln which is used as a source of public water supply, for any purpose whatsoever.
3. No person shall throw, put or discharge into the waters of any pond in the Town of Lincoln used as a source of public water supply, any manure, offal, sewage or refuse or decaying matter.
4. No person shall deposit, or cause to be deposited, upon the shores of any pond in the Town of Lincoln used as a source of public water supply, between low water mark of such pond and a line measured one rod above the high water mark, any manure, offal, refuse or decaying matter.
SWINE ..
5. No person shall keep swine within the limits of the Town'after he has been notified by the Board of Health not' to do so. i
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6. Swine in herds, exceeding five in number, shall not be kept or allowed to pasture within five hundred feet of any public street or way.
OFFENSIVE TRADES.
7. The Board of Health hereby adjudges that the ex- ercise of the trade or employment of keeping swine within the limits of the Town is a nuisance and hurtful to the in- habitants thereof, and dangerous to the public health. No person, firm or corporation shall engage in, or exercise within the limits of the Town of Lincoln the trade or employment of keeping swine without having first obtained a permit therefor in writing from the Board of Health ; and such per- mit may be revoked at any time by the said Board.
8. The Board of Health hereby adjudges that the ex- ercise of the trade or employment of slaughtering cattle, swine, sheep or other animals, or of conducting a melting or rendering establishment, is a nuisance, and hurtful to the inhabitants of the Town, and dangerous to the public health. No person, firm or corporation shall engage in or exercise within the limits of the Town of Lincoln, the trade or em- ployment of slaughtering cattle, swine, sheep or other animals or of conducting a melting or rendering establish- ment.
OFFAL, MANURE, ETC.
9. Kitchen refuse or what is known as "City Swill" or offal from swine pens, slaughter houses, vaults or cesspools, shall not be carried over any public street or way within the limits of the Town except in water tight receptacles, which shall be closely covered.
10. Offal or manure from swine pens, slaughter houses, vaults or cesspools, when deposited upon the fields shall be thoroughly plowed under and covered within twelve hours after such deposit ; or, if for any reason not so plowed under and covered, such offal or manure shall be wholly removed within the said time after such deposit.
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11. All owners or occupants of any premises within the limits of the Town of Lincoln, shall, on or before the first day of June, in each year, remove all offal, manure and other foul and offensive substances or matter from all swine pens, slaughter houses, vaults and cesspools situated upon their premises ; and shall thereupon immediately cleanse and thoroughly put in order all such swine pens, slaughter houses, vaults and cesspools.
REPEAL.
12. These regulations so far as they agree with former regulations shall be deemed a continuation thereof ; but otherwise all former regulations are repealed.
PENALTY.
13. Whoever violates any of the above regulations is liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each offence. Public Statutes, Chapter 80, Section 18.
Amendments.
ADOPTED JULY 19, 1901. ,
1. No person shall convey, or cause to be conveyed, swill, house offal, or refuse or decaying matter over any public street or way in the Town without a written license therefor issued by the Board of Health. Such license shall be exercised at all times in accordance with the require- ments of the Board and of its officers, and may be revoked at any time. The ninth (9) regulation of the Board is hereby repealed.
2. No owner or occupant of land or premises within the Town shall permit any swill, house offal, or refuse or decay- ing matter, brought from without the limits of the Town, to remain upon his land or premises for a period exceeding twenty-four hours in any case; provided, however, that any of the said substances may so remain after the said time
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if placed in receptacles or otherwise disposed of in a manner previously approved in writing by the Board of Health.
Whoever violates any of the above regulations is liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each offence.
Public Statutes, Chapter 80, Section 18.
ADOPTED JANUARY 16, 1902.
3. The Board of Health hereby adjudges that the deposit of sputum in public places is a nuisance, source of filth, and cause of sickness, and hereby orders: That spitting upon the floor, platform, or steps of any railroad station, car, public building, hall, church, market, store, or any sidewalk immediately connected with said public places, be, and hereby is prohibited.
Whoever violates any of the above regulations is liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each offence.
Public Statutes, Chapter 80, Section 18.
A true copy of the regulations of the Board of Health of the Town of Lincoln and all amendments thereto.
Attest : JOSEPH S. HART,
Secretary of the Board of Health.
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Report of the Overseers of the Poor.
The Overseers of the Poor respectfully submit the follow- ing report. During the past year the Town has been support- ing Mr. Stephen H. Garfield in the family of Mrs. James B. Wheeler, at an expense of $10 per week. Several applica- tions for aid have been received by the Board, but with the exception of that of Mr. Andrew Kilfoy, whose support at the State Hospital was chargeable to the Town, all have been disposed of without expense.
The contract for the care of the Tramps was awarded to Mr. Herbert G. Farrar at an expense to the Town of $100:
The appropriation for this department the past year was $600. This amount is hardly sufficient to meet the needs of the department, as at least $520 is required for the care of Mr. Garfield, and $100 for the care of the Tramps, therefore, we would recommend that the amount of $700 be appropri- ated for the ensuing year.
Respectfully submitted,
A. J. DOHERTY, EDWARD F. FLINT.
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Report of the Superintendent of Streets.
To the Selectmen of Lincoln :-
During the past year the first important work of the High- way Department was to fill the excavation in Tower Road, so that the street would be safe and wide enough for travel. This work was completed about June 20th, after all available gravel suitable for use on the streets had been taken from the excavation.
Other special work of the Department consists in laying three hundred and sixty feet of paved gutters around and in the vicinity of the library lot; constructing two catch basins; relaying two culverts; the erection of two new guide posts, and four new guide boards; and the removal of the old paved gutters at the corners near the center of the Town, and the laying of twelve inch iron pipe under the roadway to take the place of them.
During the year the Department has put 1537 loads of gravel upon the roads, and 180 tons of cracked stone, which was purchased last spring.
Beside work for the Highway Department, the men, horses and wagons were used to move for the Water Department fourteen car loads of pipe, and also were used to team the coal for all the Town buildings. For all of this work for other de- partments this Department has been given due credit. The Superintendent has also done work in trimming trees along the highway, under instructions from the Selectmen, at an expense of $150, for which this Department has received no credit.
The work done by the Highway Department, and the in- cidental work for the Town above mentioned, has employed
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the Town teams constantly throughout the year, with the exception of the last week in June. At all other times some or all of the Town teams were at work on each working day except when the state of the weather prevented any work by either men or horses.
The most important thing affecting the Highway Depart- inent which has been done during the year is the installation of a stone-crushing plant. This plant was completed about December 1st, and is in thorough working order. Since its completion the Department has crushed 1,100 tons of stone, of which 280 tons have been delivered to points along the streets where the stone will be needed in the spring.
Although the plant was started in the dead of winter it has developed a capacity by actual work on different days of crushing 90 tons of stone daily at a total cost of $9.00, that is to say, a cost of 10 cents per ton. As the price paid for stone delivered at the crusher is 35 cents per ton, the total cash cost of the crushed stone in the bins is therefore 45 cts.
To compare the cost of crushed stone in the bin at the crusher, and the cost of gravel in the carts at the pit, I have made a careful estimate, by which I find that while the crush- ed stone costs 45 cts. per ton in the bin, gravel in the carts costs 37} cts. per ton in the carts, or a difference of 73 cts.
During the past year the department earned $547.33, as follows :-
From Water Department $268.46, From School Depart- ment $49.62, From Stone Crusher $229.25. This amount together with the appropriation of $5,500, makes the amount of $6,047.33 available for use on the Highways. The amount expended on the Highways during the year is $5,809. This amount deducted from the amount available leaves an un- expended balance of $238.33. ,
The property of the department is in good condition, with the exception of one horse, which will not be fit for service much longer. The harnesses have been thoroughly repaired,
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the carts painted and everything made ready for the spring work.
All the guide posts of the Town are now in good condition. There must, however, be considerable work immediately done upon Lee's bridge, by replanking it and replacing some of the stringers. I recommend the use of three inch hard pine plank, such as is used by the Town of Concord,
The following is a list of property belonging to the High- way Department :-
LIST OF PROPERTY.
At the stone crusher- 1 pair Fairbank's scales, 10 tons capacity; 1 25 horse power Ajax engine and boiler; 1 hard pine bin, of 100 tons capacity; engine house 12 by 25 ft .; 2,800 pounds of steam coal; 30 gallons of oil for engine and crusher; 820 tons of crushed stone; 250 tons of stone in yard ready to crush.
Other property-280 tons crushed stone delivered at various places on highway ; 1 four horse ring roller; 6 horses; 3 carts; 1 sled; 1 road scraper; 1 new drag; 1 double whiffle- tree; 1 new side-walk snow plow; 3 sets of double harness; 1 single harness; 6 street blankets; 6 stable blankets; 6 storm blankets; 4 coal shovels; 6 short handled round point shovels; 4 long handled shovels; 3 new stone forks; 2 six tine forks; 2 iron bars; 4 scythes; 4 snathes; 2 grub hoes; 1 new wagon jack; 1.pair of trimming shears; 5 bags of salt; 1 axe; 3 hoes; 3 iron rakes; 1 oil can; 3 lanterns; 1 sickle; 6 halters; 6 new feed bags; 1 mowing machine; 12 new pick axes; 12 handles; 3 stone hammers; 6 hammer handles; 12 pieces Akron drain pipe; 6 12 ft. lengths of 12 inch iron pipe; 1 length of & inch iron pipe; 1 feed box; 3 measures; 1 can of metal polish; 2 drills; 1 log chain.
Respectfully submitted,
ROGER SHERMAN.
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Report of the Committee on Claims.
The Committee on Claims has been called upon this year to consider the relation between the towns of Concord and Lincoln as regards the use of Sandy Pond. The experience of the year has confirmed our judgment that Sandy Pond will not continue to furnish an adequate supply of water to both Concord and Lincoln for an indefinite period. Both towns are growing, and the consumption of water is natu- rally increasing in each. Even now although there has been no actual failure of supply the pond has been so far drawn down as to leave a strip of the bottom uncovered which is certainly very unsightly, to say nothing of the danger that it will be covered with vegetable growth and that when the water rises again this will die and impair the purity of the water. It is very important that this situation should be met and dealt with before the actual failure of the supply causes trouble in either town.
It is certain that Lincoln cannot change its source of supply and the prior claim of this Town to Sandy Pond is recognized by the statute under which Concord was authorized to take water from it (Act of 1872, c. 188, s. 11). Foreseeing the necessity of providing itself with another source of supply, Concord has already taken steps to acquire Nagog Pond in Acton, and it has seemed to your Committee desirable that some arrangement should be made between the towns looking to the withdrawal of Concord from Sandy Pond. An at- tempt to determine our rights by litigation would inevitably occupy much time, and would involve both towns in large expense with results probably less satisfactory than could be
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reached by agreement. Your Committee therefore has ap- proached the authorities of Concord with a view of ascertain- ing whether they were willing to take the subject up with representatives of Lincoln, and to see upon what terms an adjustment could be reached. This proposition was made some time ago, but no reply has yet been received from the authorities of Concord, owing perhaps to the absence of one member of the Board who is peculiarly conversant with the situation. We hope within a short time to receive an answer, and we shall endeavor to negotiate an arrangement which will be submitted to the Town for it's consideration if we succeed in reaching an adjustment which we are prepared to recommend the Town to accept.
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