AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 51 



account of the proximity to market, are perhaps cheaper at 

 that rate. Only eighty acres of these can be taken by one 

 individual. 



&quot; The old pre-emption laws are still in force, and a man 

 may locate his land, holding by these laws until the 1st of 

 January, when he can hold by the new law. There are 

 land-offices in the vicinity of all these public lands, where 

 the applicant can make known his wants and secure his 

 homestead. It will be seen that the matter involves either 

 the expense of a personal visit, or that of a delegate, which 

 is a serious obstacle to the poor. The best thing that can 

 be done, probably, in all cases by those who wish to avail 

 themselves of this law, will be to form an association for the 

 settlement of a township, say a hundred families or more, 

 and send out an agent to examine and locate the lands in a 

 body. The advantages of planting a whole Christian com 

 munity in the wilderness at once, over private emigration, 

 are too apparent to need mention here. 



&quot; A farm for ten dollars is only the raw material of a 

 home. Houses, barns, fences, roads, bridges, churches, 

 school-houses, and other public buildings, are to be provided 

 after the colony is located, and these things bring heavy 

 taxes upon every individual for a dozen years or more. A 

 man getting a living at the East should think twice before 

 he goes into the wilderness. It is young men just married, 

 or about to be, men with large families and scanty means 

 of living, and professional men with small fields of labor, 

 that can take this step with the best prospects.&quot; 



