SETTLEMENT. 35 



which it conflicts in part. Since the final action on an application 

 depends on the nature of the examiner's report, the report must be 

 full and complete in every particular. When an application covers 

 surveyed land, the examiner will be certain that the proper public 

 survey corners are located before commencing the examination, and 

 his work thereafter should be as accurate as the topography of the 

 country will permit. In reporting upon the amount and value of 

 timber on the land the examiner must give the estimated average 

 stand per acre and total stand on the entire area applied for. If a 

 part only of the land applied for is recommended for listing, the 

 report must give separately the average stand and value of the timber 

 per acre for the part recommended and also for the part not recom- 

 mended for listing. While the Secretary of Agriculture does not 

 undertake to pass upon the applicant's qualifications to make entry 

 upon the land listed, the examiner should submit any information he 

 may have regarding occupancy or settlement on the area applied for, 

 and the information will be transmitted to the Secretary of the 

 Interior when the land is listed. 



The act of June 11, 1906, with regard to the length of Forest home- 

 steads has been construed by the Secretary of the Interior as follows: 

 "Any tract not exceeding 160 acres in area which may bo contained 

 in a square mile, the sides of which extend in cardinal directions, is 

 understood to be within the meaning of the law." The examiner 

 should not recommend for listing to one applicant any tract which 

 exceeds the prescribed length or area. 



The accompanying illustrations of tracts which might properly 

 be recommended for listing make it possible in many cases to allow 

 an applicant a much greater amount of strictly agricultural land 

 lying along creeks and narrow valleys than would be possible under 

 any other interpretation of the term "one mile in length. 77 These 

 illustrations represent sections or approximate sections." 



Whenever possible it is best for the examiner to see the applicant 

 and discuss with him any facts which tend to estab- 



consuU^pH- lish the value of the lan< * for forest or for agripu 1 - 

 tural purposes, and have him accompany the examiner 



during the survey and examination. Since final 

 action can be taken only by the Secretary of Agriculture the examiner 

 will not give the applicant any information regarding his recom- 

 mendations. When the apDlication covers unsurveyed land, and the 

 description is somewhat inclefimte, it is particularly desirable to have 

 the applicant present when the survey and examination is made, in 

 order that the examiner may bo certain that he is examining the land 

 for which the applicant intended to apply. When the applicant is 

 present at the time of examination, and learns, upon the survey being 

 made, that he has not described in his application the land for which 

 he intended to apply, he may make an amended application, which 

 must be addressed to and filed with the district forester, and a copy 

 may be at once given to the examiner, who will then, without waiting 

 for further instructions, examine and report upon the lands covered 

 by the amended application. In such cases the copy of the amended 

 application will be submitted with the report, and a statement 

 attached to the report showing how and why the application was 

 amended. 



