AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



dred years since the United States acquired the 

 first of her public lands, the homestead act stands 

 as the concentrated wisdom of legislation for set- 

 tlement of the public lands. It protects the gov- 

 ernment, it fills the states with homes, it builds up 

 communities, and lessens the chances of social 

 and civil disorder by giving ownership of the soil, 

 in small tracts, to the occupants thereof. It was 

 copied from no other nation's system. It was 

 originally and distinctively American, and re- 

 mains a monument to its originators." 



Under the homestead law 233,043,939 acres 

 had been entered up to June 30, 1904. 



From 1873 to 1891 a Timber Culture Act was 

 in force. This Act, as first passed, enabled "any 

 person" to obtain not more than 160 acres of land 

 by planting 40 acres of timber and properly car- 

 ing for the same for ten years. The number of 

 acres of timber required was finally reduced to 10, 

 and the period of cultivation to eight years. The 

 privilege came to be restricted, however, to per- 

 sons twenty-one years of age, heads of families, 

 citizens of the United States, or one who has filed 

 his declaration of intention to become such. The 

 law was a failure from the standpoint of timber 

 culture, but in all 44,229,950 acres of land were 

 entered by this method. 



The total area included in farms was more 

 than doubled between 1860 and 1900. The acre- 

 age in farms was 407,212,538 in 1860, and in 

 204 



