witnesses, and a full compliance of the further conditions as provided in section two: Provided further, That not more than one quarter of any section shall be thus granted, and that no person shall make more than one entry under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. That the person applying for the benefits of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land district in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit, before the register or the receiver, or the clerk of some court of record, or officer authorized to administer oaths in the district where the land is situated; which affidavit shall be as follows, to wit: I, having filed my application, number - for an entry under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to encourage the growth of timber on the western prairies,"" approved -, eighteen hundred and seventy, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am the head of a family (or over twenty-one years of age), and a citizen of the United States (or have declared my intention to become such); that the section of land specified in my said application is composed exclusively of prairie lands, or other lands devoid of timber; that this filing and entry is made for the cultivation of timber, and for my own exclusive use and benefit; that I have made the said application in good faith, and not for the purpose of speculation, or directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever; that I intend to hold and cultivate the land, and to fully comply with the provision of this said act, and that I have not heretofore made an entry under this act, or the acts of which this is amendatory. And upon filing said affidavit with said register and said receiver, and on payment of ten dollars if the tract applied for is more than eighty acres, and five dollars if it is eighty acres or less, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified; and the party making an entry of a quarter section under the provisions of this act shall be required to break or plow five acres covered thereby the first year, five acres the second year, and to cultivate to crop or otherwise the five acres broken or plowed the first year; the third year he or she shall cultivate to crop or otherwise the five acres broken the second year, and to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings the five acres first broken or plowed, and to cultivate and put in crop or otherwise the remaining five acres, and the fourth year to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings the remaining five acres. All entries of less quantity than one quarter section shall be plowed, planted, cultivated and planted to trees, tree seeds, or cuttings, in the same manner and in the same proportion as herein before provided for a quarter section: Provided, however, That in case such trees, seeds, or cuttings shall be destroyed by grasshoppers, or by extreme and unusual drouth, for any year or term of years, the time for planting such trees, seeds, or cuttings shall be extended one year for every such year that they are so destroyed: Provided further, That the person making such entry shall, before he or she shall be entitled to such extension of time, file with the register and receiver of the proper land office an affidavit, corroborated by two witnesses, setting forth the destruction of such trees, and that, in consequence of such destruction, he or she is compelled to ask an extension of time, in accordance with the provisions of this act: And provided further, That no final certificate shall be given, or patent issued, for the land so entered, until the expiration of eight years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within five years thereafter, the person making such entry, or, if he or she be dead, his or her heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credible witnesses that he or she or they have planted, and, for

not less than eight years, have cultivated and protected such quantity and character of trees as aforesaid; that not less than twenty-seven hundred trees were planted on each acre, and that at the time of making such proof there shall be then growing at least six hundred and seventy-five living and thrifty trees to each acre, they shall receive a patent for such tract of land.

SEC. 3. That if at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and prior to the issuing of the patent for said land, the claimant shall fail to comply with any of the requirements of this act, then and in that event such lands shall be subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other person under the provisions of this act: Provided, That the party making claim to said land, either as a homestead settler or under this act, shall give, at the time of filing his application, such notice to the original claimant as shall be prescribed by the rules established by the Commissioner of the General Land Office; and the rights of the parties shall be determined as in other contested cases.

SEC. 4. That no land acquired under the provisions of this act shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the final certificate therefor.

SEC. 5. That the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall each be entitled to receive two dollars at the time of entry, and the like sum when the claim is finally established and the final certificate issued.

SEC. 6. That the fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addition to an act to punish crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act.

SEC. 7. That parties who have already made entries under the acts approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and March thirteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, of which this is amendatory, shall be permitted to complete the same upon full compliance with the provisions of this act; that is, they shall, at the time of making their final proof, have had under cultivation, as required by this act, an amount of timber sufficient to make the number of acres required by this act.

SEC. 8. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

Approved, June 14, 1878. (20 Stat., 113.)

[No. 9.]

PRIVATE LAND CLAIM INDEMNITY SCRIP.

AN ACT defining the manner in which certain land scrip may be assigned and located, or applied by actual settlers, and providing for the issue of patents in the name of the locator or his legal representatives.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever, in cases prosecuted under the acts of Congress of June twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty, March second, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and the first section of the act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and seventytwo, providing for the adjustment of private land claims in the States

of Florida, Louisiana, and Missouri, the validity of the claim has been, or shall be hereafter, recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the court has decreed that the plaintiff or plaintiffs is or are entitled to enter a certain number of acres upon the public lands of the United States subject to private entry at one dollar and twentyfive cents per acre, or to receive certificate of location for as much of the land the title to which has been established as has been disposed of by the United States, certificate of location shall be issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, attested by the seal of said office, to be located as provided for in the sixth section of the aforesaid act of Congress of June twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty, or applied according to the provisions of the second section of this act; and said certificate of location or scrip shall be subdivided according to the request of the confirmee or confirmees, and as nearly as practicable in conformity with the legal divisions and subdivisions of the public lands of the United States, and shall be, and are hereby declared to be, assignable by deed or instrument of writing, according to the form and pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, so as to vest the assignee with all the rights of the original owners of the scrip, including the right to locate the scrip in his own

name.

SEC. 2. That such scrip shall be received from actual settlers only in payment of pre-emption claims or in commutation of homestead claims in the same manner and to the same extent as is now authorized by law in the case of military-bounty land warrants.

SEC. 3. That the register of the proper land office, upon any such certificate being located, shall issue, in the name of the party making the location, a certificate of entry, upon which, if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office that such certificate has been fairly obtained, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, a patent shall issue, as in other cases, in the name of the locator or his legal representative.

SEC. 4. That the provisions of this act respecting the assignment and patenting of scrip and its application to preemption and homestead claims shall apply to the indemnity certificates of location provided for by the act of the second of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, entitled "An act to provide for the location of certain confirmed private land claims in the State of Missouri, and for other purposes." Approved, January 28, 1879. (20 Stat., 274.)

[No. 10.]

SPECIAL SURVEY DEPOSITS.

AN ACT to amend section twenty-four hundred and three of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to deposits for surveys.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section twenty-four hundred and three of the Revised Statutes of the United Statse be, and is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 2403.1 Where settlers make deposits in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-four hundred and one, the amount so

1 Further amended by acts of August 7, 1882 (22 Stat., 327; Appendix No. 24, p. 181), and August 20, 1894 (28 Stat., 423; Appendix No. 54, p. 233).

deposited shall go in part payment for their land situated in the townships, the surveying of which is paid for out of such deposits; or the certificates issued for such deposits may be assigned by indorsement, and be received in payment for any public lands of the United States entered by settlers under the preemption and homestead laws of the United States, and not otherwise.

Approved, March 3, 1879. (20 Stat., 352.)

[No. 11.]

SETTLERS WITHIN RAILROAD LIMITS.

AN ACT to grant additional rights to homestead settlers on public lands within railroad limits.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, the even sections within the limits of any grant of public lands to any railroad company, or to any military road company, or to any State in aid of any railroad or military road shall be open to settlers under the homestead laws to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres to each settler, and any person who has, under existing laws, taken a homestead on any even section within the limits of any railroad or military road land grant, and who by existing laws shall have been restricted to eighty acres, may enter under the homestead laws an additional eighty acres adjoining the land embraced in his original entry if such additional land be subject to entry; or if such person so elect, he may surrender his entry to the United States for cancellation, and thereupon be entitled to enter lands under the homestead laws the same as if the surrendered entry had not been made. And any person so mak ing additional entry of eighty acres, or new entry after the surrender and cancellation of his original entry, shall be permitted so to do without payment of fees and commission; and the residence and cultivation of such person upon and of the land embraced in his original entry shall be considered residence and cultivation for the same length of time upon and of the land embraced in his additional or new entry, and shall be deducted from the five years' residence and cultivation required by law: Provided, That in no case shall patent issue upon an additional or new homestead entry under this act until the person has actually, and in conformity with the homestead laws, occupied, resided upon, and cultivated the land embraced therein at least one year. Approved, March 3, 1879. (20 Stat., 472.)

[No. 12.]

FINAL PROOF NOTICE.

AN ACT to provide additional regulations for homestead and preemption entries of

public lands.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That before final proof shall be submitted by any person claiming to enter agricultural lands under

the laws providing for preemption or homestead entries, such person shall file with the register of the proper land office a notice of his or her intention to make such proof, stating therein the description of lands to be entered, and the names of the witnesses by whom the necessary facts will be established. Upon the filing of such notice the register shall publish a notice, that such application has been made, once a week for the period of thirty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to such land, and he shall also post such notice in some conspicuous place in his office for the same period. Such notice shall contain the names of the witnesses as stated in the application. At the expiration of said period of thirty days the claimant shall be entitled to make proof in the manner heretofore provided by law. The Secretary of the Interior shall make all necessary rules for giving effect to the foregoing provisions.

Approved, March 3, 1879. (20 Stat., 472.)

[No. 13.]

SETTLERS WITHIN RAILROAD LIMITS.

AN ACT to grant additional rights to homestead settlers on public lands within railroad limits in the States of Missouri and Arkansas.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act the odd sections within the limits of any grant of public lands to any railroad company in the States of Missouri and Arkansas, or to such States respectively, in aid of any railroad, where the even sections have been granted to and received by any railroad company or by such States respectively in aid of any railroad, shall be open to settlers under the homestead laws to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres to each settler; and any person who has under existing laws taken a homestead on any section within the limits of any railroad grant in said States, and who by existing laws shall have been restricted to eighty acres, may enter under the homestead laws an additional eighty acres adjoining the land embraced in his original entry, if such additional land be subject to entry; or if such person so elect, he may surrender his entry to the United States for cancellation, and thereupon be entitled to enter lands under the homestead laws the same as if the surrendered entry had not been made. And any person so making additional entry of eighty acres, or new entry after the cancellation of his original entry, shall be permitted to do so without payment of fees or commissions; and the residence of such person upon and cultivation of the land embraced in his original entry shall be considered residence and cultivation for the same length of time upon and of the land embraced in his additional or new entry, and shall be deducted from the five years' residence and cultivation required by law: Provided, That in no case shall patent issue upon an additional or new homestead entry under this act until the person has actually, and in conformity with the homestead laws, occupied, resided upon, and cultivated the land embraced therein at least one year.

Approved, July 1, 1879. (21 Stat., 46.)