176 THE USE BOOK APPENDIX. 



ion, may be occupied for agricultural purposes without injury to 

 the forest reserves, and which are not needed for public purposes, 



and may list and describe the same by metes 

 Metes and bounds, and bounds, or otherwise, and file the lists and 



descriptions with the Secretary of the Interior, 

 with the request that the said lands be opened to entry in accord- 

 ance with the provisions of the homestead laws and this act. 

 Opon the filing of any such list or description the Secretary of 



the Interior shall declare the said lands open 



Secretary of the In- to homestead settlement and entry in tracts not 



landTtVlettlemoiit! * exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in area 



and not exceeding one mile in length at the 

 expiration of sixty days from the filing of the list in the land office 

 of the district within which the lands are located, during which 



period thesaid list or description shall be promi- 

 Advertlsement. nently posted in the land office and advertised 



for a period of not less than four weeks in one 

 newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which 



the lands are situated: Prodded, That any set- 

 settlement a 6 nd llntry. * ler actually occupying and in good faith claim- 

 ing such lands for agricultural purposes prior 

 to January first, nineteen hundred and six, and who shall not 

 haVe abandoned the same, and the person, if qualified to 

 make a homestead entry, upon whose application the land pro- 

 posed to be entered was examined and listed, shall, each in the 

 order named, have a preference right of settlement and entry: 

 Provided further, That any entryman desiring to obtain patent 



to any lands described by metes and bounds 

 bound's? m * entered by him under the provisions of this 



act shall, within five years of the date of mak- 

 ing settlement, file, with the required proof of residence and cultiva- 

 tion, a plat and field notes of the lands entered, made by or under 

 the direction of the United States surveyor-general, showing accu- 

 rately the boundaries of such lands, which shall be distinctly 



marked by monuments on the ground, and by 

 Posting notices. posting a copy of such plat, together with a 



notice of the time and place of offering proof, 

 in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat (luring 

 the period prescribed by law for the publication of his notice of 

 intention to offer proof, and that a copy of such plat and field 

 notes shall also be kept posted in the office of the register of the 

 land office for the land district in which such lands are situated 

 for a like period; and further, that any agricultural lands within 



forest reserves may, at the discretion of the 



Secretary, be surveyed by metes and bounds, 



and that no lands entered under the provisions 



of this act shall be patented under the com- 

 oom n m r uted may m B mutation provisions of the homestead laws, 



but settlers, upon final proof, shall have credit 



