228 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



cultivate not less than M.e of the area of his entry 

 beginning with the second year of entry and not 

 less than % beginning with the third year and until 

 final proof, except that in the case of the enlarged 

 Homestead laws, double the areas given are re- 

 quired. On a 160-acre claim, therefore, it is re- 

 quired that % or 20 acres be under cultivation. A 

 mere breaking of the soil does not meet the require- 

 ments of the statute, but such breaking of the soil 

 must be accompanied by planting and sowing of 

 seed and tillage for a crop other than native grasses. 

 The period within which the cultivation should be 

 made is reckoned from the date of the entry. The 

 Secretary of the Interior, however, is authorized 

 upon a satisfactory showing therefor to reduce the 

 required area of cultivation on account of financial 

 disabilities or misfortunes of the entryman or on 

 account of special physical and climatic conditions 

 of the land which make cultivation difficult. The 

 entryman must establish an actual residence upon 

 the land entered, 6 months after the date of the 

 entry. After the establishment of residence the 

 entryman is permitted to be absent from the land 

 for one continuous period of not more than 5 

 months in each year following. He must also file 



