208 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



entry of not exceeding 160 acres of any of the unoc- 

 cupied public lands of the United States. A single 

 woman of twenty-one years of age or over has the right 

 to make a homestead entry. Marriage after filing does 

 not invalidate her claim, provided she continues to re- 

 side on it and make proper improvements. A widow 

 may make entry, but a married woman can not make 

 entry unless she has been deserted by her husband. 

 Soldiers and sailors, or if dead, their widows and 

 orphans, have the privilege of filing through an agent. 

 All other applicants must make their filings in per- 

 son. The period of service in the army up to four years 

 is deducted from the required five years' residence. 



LOCATION OF LAND OFFICES. 



United States land offices are located at Rapid 

 City, S. D., Dickinson, N. D., Miles City, Mont., Lew- 

 istown, Mont., and Missoula, Mont. United States com- 

 missioners, empowered to transact all Government busi- 

 ness connected with the securing of homesteads, are lo- 

 cated at Lemmon, S. D., Hettinger and Bowman, N. D., 

 and at Terry, Mont. Commissioners will probably be 

 appointed in a number of other towns on the new trans- 

 continental line. 



WHAT IT COSTS TO HOMESTEAD. 



Fee for filing on 160-acre tract: 



In the Dakotas If outside land grant limit $14 



In the Dakotas If inside land grant limits 18 



In Montana If outside land grant limit 16 



In Montana If inside land grant limit 22 



Add to this a fee of about $3.00, if the filing is 

 made before a United States commissioner. 



Fee for final proof on 160-acre tract : 



In the Dakotas If outside land grant limit $ 4 



In the Dakotas If inside land grant limit 8 



In Montana If inside land grant limit 12 



In Montana If outside land grant limit 6 



Advertising same 8 



In case it is desired to commute at the end of four- 

 teen months' residence, an additional charge of from 50 

 cents to $2.50 per acre is made, depending upon the dis- 

 trict in which the land is located. In the greater part 

 of Butte County, South Dakota, the charge is 50 cents 

 per acre. 



HOW TO GET INFORMATION SHOWING HOMESTEAD LANDS. 



Information as to the vacant land in any land dis- 

 trict can be obtained by writing to the Land Office for 

 that district. There are, however, no maps or plats 

 showing the exact location of quarter sections open for 

 entry available for general distribution. Township dia- 

 grams showing land still open for entry may be secured 

 from the Register of the district Land Office for a fee 

 of $1.00 each. 



HINTS FOE THE INTENDING HOMESTEADER. 



Agricultural implements, wagons, harness, hard- 

 ware and general merchandise may be bought in the new 

 towns along the Pacific Coast extension at Chicago 

 prices, plus the freight rate. There will be no difficulty 

 in finding everything necessary at reasonable prices. 

 Good farm horses in this western country bring good 

 prices, and it will therefore be advisable in most cases 

 to ship your horses with your household goods direct 

 from your home town. Lumber in western Dakota sells 

 for $40 per thousand feet. It is somewhat cheaper in 

 Montana. The settlers generally build their first house 



of sod, with frame roof, floor, doors and window-casing. 

 These houses are whitewashed, look well and are com- 

 fortable. They can be built by contract for $151, in- 

 cluding labor and material. Since the time when the 

 more adventurous of the early settlers struggled over the 

 Alleghany Mountains there has never been a better op- 

 portunity for the ambitious young American than is now 

 offered in the West by the building of this latest trans- 

 continental railway, the Pacific Coast extension of the 

 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. 



PLOWING FOR AND SEEDING ALFALFA. 



BY JNO. G. HALL. 



Great care must be taken in plowing up land to 

 be irrigated so as not to leave elevations and depres- 

 sions in the fields which will cause difficulty in getting 

 water over the field uniformly and evenly. 



The best method I know is to begin in the center 

 of the field and plow to the outside all in one land. 

 This leaves no dead furrows to fill up and only a 

 very short back furrow unless the field be long; and 

 if so, the plow can be set more shallow until the back 

 furrow is made; (say two or three rounds). Then 

 the plow can be set to its uniform depth by turning 

 to the right. With a right-handed plow no ground will 

 be trampled out and made hard on the corners; no 

 dead furrows will be left in the field and a smooth, 

 pulverized field will be the result. 



The smoothing harrow should follow the plow 

 closely to prevent the penetration of sun and wind 

 from drying out the soil. To prevent the ground from 

 baking, to pack the soil, to level the surface and to- 

 make a perfect seed bed for the small seeds about to 

 be sown, go over the field once or twice more with the 

 smoothing Harrow. 



Barley is a very good grain with which to seed 

 alfalfa. Sow about forty pounds of barley and ten 

 pounds of alfalfa seed to the acre. A hoe or press 

 drill may be used allowing the barley to go down the 

 spouts and sowing the alfalfa seed broadcast on the 

 surface because the alfalfa seed is so small it should 

 not be covered deeply. The barley sown thinly makes 

 a shade for the young alfalfa while small and on ac- 

 count of the barley being ready to cut about fifteen 

 days earlier than wheat or oats it is gotten off the 

 ground and a better opportunity is given the young 

 alfalfa. After the seed has been sown, go once more 

 over the field with the smoothing harrow to cover the 

 alfalfa seed as shallow as possible. 



The first irrigation should be begun when the 

 alfalfa is an inch high and the barley stooled and 

 shading the ground well. If the field is level one way 

 and has a gradual slope in one direction, plow your 

 ditches for irrigation through the the field about one 

 hundred feet apart, leaving a space at the lower end 

 of the field not ploughed which will irrigate from the 

 end of ditch. After the barley has been taken off the 

 field irrigate the young alfalfa again and secure a 

 cutting of hay from the new seeding the first year. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 I year, and the Primer of Irrigation 



