Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1910-09-16
32O-ACRE FARMS
! SOON AVAILABLE
Some Of the Important Provisions Of the *Dry
Farm Act Secretary Of Intererior Must
Designate Land Subject to Entry.

Important to all persons interest
ed in public land matters are the
instructions just issued by the secre-
tary of the interior for guidance in
the administration of the act of con-
gress approved June II, 1910, en-
larged homestead, familiarly known
in the west as the dry farm act.
The instructions include special
feature in that they state that lands
have to be designated by the secre-
tary of the interior, and this will
take some time.
The instructions to registers and
receivers of United States land Of
fees 10 Idaho are in part as follows:
The first section of the act pro-
vides for the making of homestead
entry for an area of 800 acres, or
less, of arid, non-mineral, non-tlm-
bered, non-irrigible public land in
the State of Idaho.
The terms ssarid" or t'non irrigi-
ble'' as used in this act, are constru
ed to mean land which, as a rule,
lacks sufficient rainfall to produce
agricultural crops without the ne
tessity of resorting to unusual
methods of cultivation, such as the
system commonly known as "dry
farming" and for which there is nc
known source of water supply from
which such land may be successfully
irrigated at reasonable cost.
Therefor lands containing mer-
chantable timber, mineral lands, anc
lands within reclamation project,
or lands which may be irrigated u
a reasonable cost from any known
source of water supply, may not b.
entered under this act. Minor por
tiona of legal subdivision suscepti
BILE of irrigation from natural sour
ces, as, for instance, spring, will
not exclude such subdivision from
entry under this act, provided, how
ever, that no one entry shall EN-
brace in the aggregate more than 4
acres of such irrigible lands.
Lands entered under this act mus
be in Reasonably compact form
and in no event exceed one and on'
half mile in length.
The act provides that the fe'
shall be the came as those now r.
quired to be paid under the hons
stead laws; therefore, while the fe'
may not in any one case exceed Il
maximum fee of $40 required und'
the general homestead law, the cor
missions will be determined by u
area of land embraced by the area
land embraced in the entry.
The affidavit of applicant as
the character of the lands must
corroborated by two witnesses.
is not necessary that such witness
be acquainted with the applical
and If they are not so acquaint
their affidavit should be mOditi
accordingly.
Section 90 of the act proyid
that any homestead entryman
lands of the character described
the first section of the act, up
which entry final proof has not be
made, may enter such other lam
subject to the provisions of this a
contiguous to the former ent
which shall not, together with
lands embrased IN the original ent
sexceed $40 acres, and that resideI
uDon and cultivation of the origi
entry shall be accepted as equiyal
to residence upon and cultivation
the additional entry.
Final proofs must be made az
ordinary homestead cases, and
addition to the showing required
ordinary homestead entrymen
must be shown that at least o
eighth of the area embraced IN
tntry has been continuously Gu
yated to agricultural crops OF
than native grasses, beginning '