less becn reoh v i uthe de. bieh, what had feet 1b thres dand fefire ddred ively Nsive prr. er the ythe but leient diate e Wàs dd the many Iy ecamne everal aping sslng, nomy, ple, it 3 and

olive under length sevell jmpor. ed out Jurope 1 uns elay N- e Waj. nough ewness 3 1D A des inally

PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 19

the olive-trees that were planted perished with every winter's frost, but put up fresh shoots again in the spring, which also perished with

that of the succeeding season.

On the 30th of June, 1834, Congress granted 36 sections of land (23,040 acres) to the Polish exiles, then recently expelled from Europe by Austria, on conditions of actual settlement and the improvement of the soil.

In 1838, similar views again, probably, prompted Congress to grant to Dr. Henry Perrine, a township 6 miles square(23, 040 acres,) in Dade county, in Florida, on the implied condition of introducing the culture and“ domestication“ of tropical plants. But, perhaps, owing to the want of a practical knowledge of the business and of funds adequate to carry the project into execution, little, if anything, was done by Dr. Perrine, and the enterprise was abandoned at his death, in 1839. S—

The pre-emption system afterwards expanded into one of vast pro- portions, under the passage of the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1799, which was special, and only included certain purchasers of lands in the Northwest Territory, under one John Cleve Symmes, being more in the nature of a relief act. At various periods since that time, extending through a space of about thirty years, special pre-emption acts were passed for the benefit of settlers in Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas. But the first general pre-emption law was approved May 29, 1830. This act gave to every settler or occupant of the public lands, prior to its passage, and then in possession, and who had cultivated any part thereof, in the year 1829, the right to purchase his claim, not exceed- ing a quarter section, or 160 acres, in preference to all other persons, upon performing the conditions of the act, at the government mini- mum price of 1 25 per acre, and by its own limitation was to con tinue in force for a year from the date of its approval. Afterwards, several acts were passed, continuing the privileges of the above act to certain settlers. On the 22d June, 1838, the privileges of the act of 1830 were extended to every settler, who was the head of a family, or over the age of twenty-one years, in possession as a housekeeper by personal residence, on the land claimed at the time of its passage and for four months preceding.

The next in order of time is the act of June 1, 1840, which was supplemental to the act of 1838, and enlarged the privileges therein granted. But the great pre-emption act, which has superseded all prior laws on the subject, and which has disseminated its blessings throughout the extent of our great country, was approved the 4th September, 1841, and its provisions in the main have governed in all subsequent enactments up to the present time. Our legislators, at, that period, seem to have been actuated by a noble spirit of liberality both to aliens and to natives, not forgetting the rights of women. This act has probably done more towards the promotion of settlements in the vast regions of the West and Northwest, and in the develop- ment of their agricultural resources and interests, than all other causes combined. It gives to every-one who is the head of a family whether