The Homestead Law has beers .on the statute-books for nearly 50 years,' st?bStatitially as originally enacted. It is regarded as the basis of our land laws and was the most suc cessful of our land policies. The constitution ality of the Act does not seem to have been senously questioned in the courts.
Under the Homestead Law proper, the appli cant is limited to 169 acres and must reside upon the land and make it his home to the exclusion of any other residence during the period of three years. At the end of this time he may make final proof of his resi dence and of the cultivation and improvement of the land. If this is satisfactory he re ceives a patent from the United States which conveys to him 'full title and *unrestricted' ownership. If a homestead settler dies without having filed application for •entry or if having entered he has not submitted final proof, his rights pass to his widow or if there be none then to his heirs or devisees. If all the heirs are minor children and the other parent is dead the right• to the patent vests in the children at once.
The laws provide for the commutation of a homestead entry before the completion of the three years' period of residence, after 14 months' continuous residence, and by the payment of $125 per acre, or where the land is within the limits of certain railroad grants, $2,50 per acre and upon the proof of substantial im provements and cultivation of not less than' one-sixteenth of the area.
Homestead entrymen are not allowed alienate any part of the land in the homestead entry prior to making proof except •for public purposes, but they may mortgage the land for the purpose of securing money for improvement or for any other purpose not inconsistent with good faith. Only one homestead entry is al
lowed but where the original homestead entry was less than 160 acres an additional entry of such amounts as net to exceed a total of 160 acres will be allowed.
Beginning with the Act of 19 Feb. 1909 several acts were passed providing for en larged homesteads not exceeding 32.0 acres of public land in the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idahoansas, Montana, Nevada, N New Mexico, forth Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, ap plicable, however, only to lands designated by the Secretary of the Interior as non-mineral, non-timbered, non-irrigable and subject to the said acts. The entryman of an enlarged home stead must reside thereon for three years and must cultivate at least one-sixteenth of the area for agricultural crops other than naked grass, beginning with the second year of the entry, and at least one-eighth of the area must be continually cultivated beginning with the third' year.
The Kinkaid Act of 28 April 1904 provides for homestead entries not exceeding 640 acres in western Nebraska except for such lands as may be designated by the Secretary of the Inte rior as irrigable. The general homestead laws will apply but the entryman must expend not less than $125 per acre in permanent improve ments. Those who have already made home stead entry may take additional land in the area covered by this Act but the total entered must not exceed 640 acres.