

NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL LAWS. 29 



The widow of a homestead settler who had not prior to his death 

 established bona fide residence on the land must thereafter both reside 

 on and cultivate the land in her own right at least in the presence of 

 a forest withdrawal. (Susan A. Leonard, 40 L. D., 429.) 



Residence. The object of the homestead laws is the donation of public 

 lands to persons seeking to establish and maintain agricultural homes 

 thereon, conditioned upon actual occupancy of the same as a home, and 

 cultivation and improvement of the land; and mere occasional visits 

 to the claim do not meet the requirements of the law. (Oscar O. Reeer, 

 40 L. D., 206.) 



The homestead law contemplates a continuous compliance both as 

 to residence and cultivation, beginning with the date of entry. (Hon 

 v. Martinas, 41 L. D., 119.) 



The law contemplates that the entryman shall make the land his 

 permanent home to the exclusion of a home elsewhere; and an entry 

 merely for the purposes of a summer home during three or four months 

 of the year while maintaining a home elsewhere the rest of the time is 

 invalid. (George W. Harpst, 36 L. D., 166.) 



A homestead entry made with no intention of establishing a perma- 

 nent, bona fide home upon the land, but merely with a view to submit- 

 ting a showing sufficient to support commutation, must be canceled, 

 notwithstanding the proof shows full technical compliance with respect 

 to inhabitancy of the land for the period ordinarily required in commu- 

 tation cases. (Gilbert Satrang, 37 L. D./683, syllabus.) 



Credit for constructive residence during official employment will 

 not be allowed to homestead entrymen appointed to office on or after 

 March 1, 1909. Such credit will be given only to entrymen who 

 establish residence on their claims and are thereafter elected to office. 

 (37 L. D., 449.) 



Commutation Residence. The purpose of the homestead law is the 

 donation of the public lands to actual settlers seeking to establish bona 

 fide homes thereon, and the provision respecting commutation in no 

 wise changes that purpose, but merely affords a means of commuting 

 further residence to cash in meritorious cases, lawfully initiated and 

 prosecuted to the date of commutation. (Gilbert Satrang, 37 L. D., 

 683, syllabus.) 



Credit for constructive residence during official employment will 

 not be allowed in the commutation of homestead entries. Commuta- 

 tion may be allowed only upon a showing of actual and substantially 

 continuous presence upon the land for the required period. (Ed. Jen- 

 kins, 37 L. D., 434.) 



The fact that lands may be chiefly valuable for the timber thereon 

 does not exclude them from settlement and entry under the homestead 

 law, but it must clearly appear that the settlement or entry was made 

 in good faith, for the purpose of making the tract a home, and where 

 the entryman in such case submits commutation proof and pays a 

 price to cut short the period of residence required by the homestead 

 law, he invites scrutiny and challenges judgment as to the good faith 

 of his entry. (Patten v. Quackenbush, 35 L. D., 561.) 



Cultivation. Cultivation is an essential requisite to compliance with 

 the homestead law, and a hearing may be had on a charge of nonculti- 

 vation, even when unaccompanied by a sufficient charge of nonresi- 

 dence. (Norton v. Ackley, 29 L. D., 561.) 



Under the three-year homestead law a mere breaking of the soil 

 will not meet the terms of the statute, but such breaking or stirring 

 of the soil must also be accompanied by planting or the sowing of 

 seed and tillage for a crop other than native grasses. Circular of July 

 15, 1912 (41 L. D., 103, 105.) 



The homestead law "requires not only bona fide residence upon the 

 land, but actual cultivation. Claimant's cultivation is grossly inade- 

 quate to meet the requirements of the law, and in its inadequacy casts 

 further doubt upon the bona fides of the residence. The cutting of 

 wild hay from a homestead entry can not be considered seriously as cul- 

 tivation of the land . This is particularly true when the part of the land 

 from which the hay was not cut has not been used for grazing purposes; 

 and also when the total cultivation during the life of the entry amounts 

 to not more than half an acre planted to crops and an additional acre 



