SKETCH OF MODERN AGRICULTURE 75 



the smallest tract that the government would sell was 160 acres, 

 and the lowest price was $2.00 per acre. During the next 

 twenty years (18211840) the minimum price was $1.25 per 

 acre, and 40 acres was the smallest tract that could be sold. 

 In 1841 was passed the first general preemption act, with- 

 drawing the lands from sale to the general public and reserv- 

 ing them for sale to actual settlers. These were allowed to 

 purchase limited areas, upon which they had actually settled, at 

 the fixed minimum price of $1.25 per acre. The final stage in 

 the transition was reached with the passage of the Homestead 

 Act in 1862, and its modification in 1864. Under this law the 

 actual settler who lived on and cultivated the land was given a 

 title to a tract not exceeding 160 acres, without money and 

 without price. Since the passage of this act there have been 

 numerous supplementary acts like the Timber Culture Act, 

 giving a limited area of land to any one who would plant a 

 limited portion of it in trees and cultivate them for a period 

 of years, the Desert Land Act, and others, all looking to 

 the popularization of the land. 



The first general ordinance for the sale of the national 

 domain was passed in 1785. The most important feature of 

 this act was that providing for a system of rectangular survey- 

 ing, which is still in use. The system may be described as 

 follows. 



The rectangular system of surveying. Through a point 

 selected as the initial point of the system a line is run north 

 and south and another east and west. The first is known there- 

 after as a principal meridian and the latter as a base line, and 

 from these two lines the townships are numbered. Each row of 

 to\A nships running north and south, whose east and west bound- 

 aries are parallel to the principal meridian, is called a range. 

 The ranges are numbered east and west from the principal 

 meridian. Within the range the townships are numbered north 



