THB TIMBER LAW OF THE AMERICAN PRAIRIES.

North Otago Times, Volume XX, Issue 965, 25 August 1874, Page 4

THB TIMBER LAW OF THE AMERICAN PRAIRIES.

" Land and. Water" says :— It ia a point of importance to' encourage the growth of foiQstxtrees in, Nebraska and other prairie State* The wasteful extravagance with" which tKe American woodman plies the axe, and the enormous demand for timber for fuel, in architecture; arid in manufacture, are making enormous inroads on the American forests, vast as these are, and ' have been. Timber grows with great rapidity in Nebraska. There are many, species of forest trees native on the banks of the rivers, and on some of the rolling hills j and every useful ' species — evergreens and deciduous — known to the temperate zones will flourish on • the plains. In point of fact, a farmer cannot put a goodly portion of his land to better use than by planting it in trees; for, in the course of ten years, the percentage of profit it will yield will be enormous. As there is a prospect of the nation needing an 1 in- 1 creased timber supply, and as timber grows freely tip^pn the" prairie, the American Congress, has passed an Act granting land on the sole condition "that onfrTouftlf'of the' land shall be planted to trees . ' The Act* i as originally passed in 1873, at the instance of Mr Senator Hitchcock, .of -Nebraska, and an tftmemiing Act proposed' by 'the same gentleman has this year been passed. As the timber law ndw stands, tbe payment of a fee of about 1)2 sterling will secure to any citizen or person who has declared his intention to become a citizen^ 160 acres of- Govern- - ment land on condition that 40 acres thereof be planted^ 1 and without, as required by the Homestead Xaw, $ie nei cessity- of residenoe thereon. — The - provisions are these : — A person having .made a- /tinqber claim, and paid the fees, he -will have the first year to plough 10 acres, the second year 10 acres, 'arid 'the third year 20 acres. The second year he will have to plant 10 acres with forest trees, the third ! year 10 acres, and the fourth year 20 r-Hcresv "TlttrtreeS" aTe~ t not*"tS WTnore jthan 12>fefiSapaH ? eaih4ray, and they are to be kept in growing condition to the end of eight years, from the timeof entry ; and /then the person receives a deed— or 'patent, 'as it is called — for the entire 1 160 acres. Eighty acres, or for^y acres, may be obtained^ in the same way 1>y' cultivating timber.