THE FARMER'S MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 219 



ownership of the soil, in small tracts, to the occupants thereof. 

 It was copied from no other nation's system. It was originally 

 American, and remains a monument to its originators." 



From 1873 to 1891 a Timber Culture Act was in force. This 

 act, as first passed, enabled " any person " to obtain not more 

 than 1 60 acres of land by planting 40 acres of timber and properly 

 caring 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 persons twenty-one years of age, heads of families, 

 citizens of the United States, or one who has filed his declara- 

 tion 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 acreage in farms was 407,212,538 

 in 1860, and in 1900 it was 838,591,774. The importance of 

 free land in this increase in the total area of land in farms is 

 shown by the fact that between January i, 1863, and June 30, 

 1900, 188,149,032 acres of land were entered under the home- 

 stead laws. It is estimated that public lands had been dis- 

 posed of by the government prior to June 30, 1860, to the extent 

 of 417,587,322 acres. 1 



The free distribution of farms by the Government practically 

 no longer exists. Although over one-tenth of the total land 

 area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and the insular 

 possessions, remains unappropriated and unreserved (222,448,- 

 225 acres in 1918 out of the total area of 1,900,947,200 acres), 

 this land is nearly all desert or semi-desert and unsuitable for 

 the production of crops. It is located principally in Arizona, 

 California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, 

 Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming, and most of it is used for grazing 

 sheep and cattle particularly, during the winter and spring 



1 Donaldson ("Public Domain," p. 519) says: "The disposition of the public 

 domain from its origin to June 30, 1883, is estimated at about 620,000,000 acres." 

 From this number has been subtracted the sum of the amounts annually disposed 

 of each year from June 30, 1860, to June 30, 1883, or 202,412,322 acres. 



