INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMS FOR OBTAIN The following instructions and forms are to be observed b office for bounty land. The forms and modes of proof have and every facility will be afforded to applicants to establish of service have been prepared from the rolls on file in t order that those who have not received discharges, or hay be disappointed in obtaining their just reward. The fran against the arts and devices of agents who will seek to taining the land in order to enhance their own charges. among the archives of the country. In nine cases out of be of the identity of the applicant, or of marriage and are facts readily proved, and, therefore, the difficulties w The policy of this law in all its provisions is to discour soldiers, and aid them in obtaining all its advantages with In every application for the benefit of the act aforesa ving officer or soldier himself, or by his widow or minor ( under oath, must be made as nearly according to the fol the case will admit.

Such declaration and all affidavits must be sworn to befo other officer authorized to administer oaths for general purp The official character and signature of the magistrate who be certified by the clerk of the proper court of record of I court. Such certificate must accompany every case.

In every instance where the certificate of the certifying c per, is not written on the same sheet of paper which conta authenticated, the certificate must be attached thereto by and, the ends of which must pass under the official seal, from being improperly attached to the certificate.

The third section, in express terms, only provides for t the law. Thus, the right to locate not being given to an a well say that no assignments made prior to location will be

The fourth section declares all sales, &c., going to affect or to be granted, "prior to the issue," shall be null and vo the land located shall not be charged with or subject to any d the issuing of the patent." It thus appears clear that it was the claim of the soldier or his heirs should continue fr brance until after the issue of the patent, and thus relieve th growing out of conflicting claims under alleged assignment The object of the law is to confer the right to the land itsel

After that purpose is effected, it is of course competent for the grantee to dispose of it as he may think proper.

As numerous inquiries have been directed to the following points, it may be well to state: 1. That where the service has been rendered by a substitute, he is the person entitled to the benefit of the law, and not his employer.

2. That the widow of a soldier who has rendered the service required by the law is enti tled to bounty land, provided she was a widow at the passage of the law, although she may have been married a second time; but if not a widow at that time, the benefit of the act enures to the minor children of the deceased soldier.

3. That no person who has received or is entitled to bounty land under a prior law, is entitled to the benefit of the act of the 28th of September, 1850.

4. That no soldier is entitled to more than one warrant under this act, although he may have served several terms; but where a soldier has served several terms, he will receive a warrant for the greatest quantity of land to which those several terms, consolidated, will entitle him.

Applicants for bounty land, or for information in relation thereto, are requested to address their communications on that subject to the "Commissioner of Pensions" direct. Their transmission through the department of the interior proper imposes on it a very great and unnecessary amount of labor, and the additional examination they must thereby necessarily undergo only creates delay, and increases their liability to be lost or mislaid. Whenever new questions arise under the law, the decision of the department will be communicated to the commissioner.

If any officer or soldier who would be entitled to bounty land under said act, if living, has died, leaving no widow who still survives him, but leaving a child or children under the age of majority, at the time of the passage of said act, such minor child or children are entitled to the same quantity of land that the father would be entitled to if living.

In such case, the guardian of such minor child or children must make a declaration as nearly corresponding with the foregoing forms as the nature of the case will admit. He must state the time of the father's death; the fact that no widow survives him; and must state the name or names, and exact age or ages of his surviving minor child or children.

This declaration must be accompanied by satisfactory proof of the father's death, that no widow survives him; of the ages of the minor children; of his own appointment, by competent authority, as guardian. If there is any family record, showing the ages of the children, it, or a certified copy of the same, should be forwarded, with the affidavit of some disinterested person, proving the genuineness of the original, and that the copy certified is a true and correct copy of it.

Homestead-Exemption Law.

FROM and after the first day of January, A. D., 1852, the family homestead of the head of each family shall be exempt from attachment and levy or sale on execution on any judg ment rendered on any cause of action accruing after the taking effect of this act: provided such homestead shall not exceed in value five hundred dollars. Such homestead shall not be assets in the hands of an administrator for the payment of debts, nor subject to the laws of distribution or devise, so long as the widow or minor children, or any or either of them, shall occupy the same; and no release or waiver of such exemption shall be valid unless made by deed executed by the husband and wife, with all the formalities required by law for the conveyance of real estate; or if the wife be dead, and there be minor children, by such deed executed by the husband, with the consent of the judge of probate for the county in which the land is, indorsed on said deed.

Such exemption shall extend to any interest which the debtor may own in such homestead, and to any interest in any building occupied by him as a homestead, standing on land not owned by him to an amount not exceeding five hundred dollars.

The sheriff executing any writ of execution, founded on any judgment such as is mentioned above, on application of the debtor or his wife, if such debtor shall have a family, and if the lands and tenements about to be levied on, or any part thereof, shall be the homestead or estate thereof, shall cause a homestead such as the debitor may select, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, to be set off to the debter in the manner following, to wit: he shall cause three appraisers to be appointed, one by the creditor, one by the debtor, and one by himself, who shall be discreet and disinterested men, residents in the county, and shall be sworn by a justice of the peace impartially to appraise and set off by metes and bounds a homestead of the estate of the debtor, such as he may select, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value; and the set-off and assignment so made as aforesaid by the appraisers shall be returned by the sheriff, along with the writ, for record in court; and if no complaint shall be made by either party, no further proceedings shall be had against the homestead: but the remainder of the debtor's land and tenements, if any more he shall have, shall be liable to levy or sale on execution in the same manner as heretofore provided by law; provided that upon good cause shown, the court out of which the writ issued may order a re-appraisement and re-assignment of the homestead, either by the same appraisers or others appointed by the court, and under such instructions as the court may give; and such appraisement shall be made and returned to said court as aforesaid.

When the homestead of any head of a family, being a debtor in execution, shall consist of a house, or a house and lot of land, which in the epinion of the appraisers can not be divided without injury and inconvenience, they shall make and sign an appraisal of the whole value thereof, and deliver the same to the officer having the execution, who shall deliver a copy thereof to the execution-debtor, or some member of his family of sufficient age to understand the nature thereof, with a notice thereof attached, that unless the execu tion-debtor shall pay to said officer the surplus over and above the five hundred dollars, within sixty days thereafter, said premises will be sold; and in case such surplus shall not be paid within the said sixty days it shall be lawful for the officer to advertise and sell the same at auction, by posting up notices of the time and place of sale, with a description of the premises, in two or more of the most public places in the town where the same is situate, and a like notice in the next adjoining town, thirty days prior to the sale; and out of the proceeds of such sale to pay the said execution-debtor, with the written consent of his wife, the sum of five hundred dolars; provided, however, if the wife of such debtor shall not consent to such payment, the sheriff or officer having such proceeds shall deposite said sum of five hundred dollars in some savings institution in this state, to the credit of said debtor and wifes and the same may be withdrawn therefrom only by the joint order of the husband and wife, or by the surviver in case one should decease; and the same shall be exempt from attachment and levy of execution for the term of one year from the time it shall be paid or deposited as aforesaid. And the said sheriff or officer shall apply the balance of said proceeds on the execution, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to satisfy the same; provided that no such sale shall be made unless a greater sum than five hundred dol lars shall be bid therefor, in which case the officer shall return the execution for want of property, with a certificate thereon of his proceedings.

The provis ons of this act shall not extend to any judgment rendered on any contract made before the taking effect of this act, or judgment rendered on any note or mortgage executed by the debtor and his wife, nor any claim for labor less than one hundred dollars, nor to impair the lien by mortgage of the vender for the purchase-money of the homestead in question, nor of any mechanic or other person, under any statute of this state, for any debt contracted for or in aid of the erection of the buildings, nor from the payment of taxes due thereon.

No conveyance of alienation by the husband of any property exempt and set off as aforesaid, shall be valid unless the wife join in the deed of conveyance; provided, however, that such husband may without the consent of his wife, mortgage such homestead, at the time of the purchase thereof, for the payment of the purchase-money.

The provisions of this act shall not be so construed as to affect any property fraudulently purchased by the debtor, when in insolvent circumstances.

SPECIAL STATE LAWS.

MAINE.

Constitution adopted 1820.-Square Miles 32,628.-Population in 1850, 583,026.

Exemptions.

THERE is exempt from sale on execution the debtor's wearing-apparel, beds, bedsteads, bedding, and household utensils necessary for himself, his wife and children, provided that the beds and bedding so exempted shall not exceed one bed, bedstead, and necessary bedding, for every two persons, nor the other household furniture the value of fifty dollars; the tools of any debtor necessary for his trade or occupation; all bibles and schoolbooks in actual use in the family, and one copy of the statutes of the state; all cast-iron and sheet-iron stoves used exclusively for warming buildings; one cow, and one heifer till she shall become three years old; two swine, one of which shall not weigh more than one hundred pounds; and when he owns a cow, and a heifer more than three years old, or two swine, each weighing more than one hundred pounds, he may elect the cow, or the heifer, or either of the swine, to be exempt as aforesaid; ten sheep, and the wool that may be sheared from them, and thirty hundred weight of hay for the use of said cow, and two tons for the use of said sheep, and a sufficient quantity for said heifer according to its age; all produce of farms while standing and growing, until harvested, and corn and grain necessary and sufficient for the sustenance of the debtor and his family, not exceeding thirty bushels; one pew in any meetinghouse where he and his family statedly worship; all potatoes raised or purchased for the consumption of himself and family; all firewood conveyed to the debtor's house for the use of himself and family, not exceeding twelve cords; one boat, not exceeding two tons' burden. usually employed in fishing-business, belonging wholly to an inhabitant of this state: one plough, of the value of ten dollars; one cart, of the value of twenty-five dollars; one harrow, of the value of five dollars; and one cooking-stove, of the value of thirty-five dollars; and all an thracite and bituminous coal and charcoal conveyed to any person's house to be consumed in the family of such person, not exceeding five tons of anthracite and fifty bushels of bituminous; one pair of bulls, steers, or oxen, raised by the owner from his own cows, or purchased by him before the said bulls or steers were one year old, or by him at any time obtained by exchange of said bulls, steers, or oxen, for others of the same age, with a sufficient quantity of hay to keep the same through the winter season, provided that the owner began to raise or pur chased said stock after the 24th day of April, 1839; one ox-yoke, with bows ring, and staple, value of three dollars; two chains value of three dollars; one ox sled value of ten dollars; one pair of oxen, steers, or bulls, purchased or obtained legally, the same as if raised; one or two horses, instead of oxen, not to exceed one hundred dollars in value; one barrel of flour, and ten dollars worth of lumber wood, or bark; also, any piece of land, not exceeding half an acre, appropriated by any number of individuals as a place of burial, constantly enclosed with a fence, and not used for the purposes of cultivation; a description of which, under the hands of individuals who appropriated the same, attested by two disinterest. ed witnesses, shall have been recorded in the registry of deeds in the county ot registry district where the land lies.