Whereas the Patentees of Lands within this Colony by the terms of their Patents granted by his Majesty are Obliged to Cultivate and clear three Acres of each Hundred Acres to them granted within three Years after the Date of their respective Patents; And Whereas by the general Poverty of the Inhabitants of this Province it is found Impracticable to comply with the said Terms, And Whereas also many Doubts have arose about the kind of Improvement necessary to be Perform'd for saving of Land; which Difficultys and Doubts have Discouraged People from taking up of Lands and Prevented the Peopleing of the Country; To the end therefore that Sufficient encouragment may be given for the taking up of Lands and that all Doubts about the manner of Cultivation to save Lands be removed We humbly pray your most Sacred Majesty that it be enacted,

And it is hereby Enacted by the Governor Council and general Assembly of this Province that for every hundred Acres contain'd in the Tract mentioned in each Patent Allready Granted or which shall hereafter be granted if the Patentee or his Assigns within three Years after the Date of his or her Patent hath clear'd or shall clear one acre at least and Plant the same with Fruit Trees or Indian Corn or Pease or sow the same with any manner of Grain or Drain one Acre of marsh Land, that then and in such case the said Patentee shall be Deem'd to have Duly clear'd and Cultivated his or her Tract of Land, and to have saved the same any thing in the Proviso of his or her Patent in relation to clearing and Cultivation notwithstanding.

And be it Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That where any Person or Persons shall be Possessed of two or more Tracts of Land joining each other and shall Cultivate one of the said Tracts in a greater Proportion than is mention'd by this Act, such overpluss shall be applied to the saving all or any of the adjoining Tracts according to such Proportion, and the said Tracts of Land shall be saved accordingly.

And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that if any Patentee of Land hath Built or shall Build a Saw Mill on any Tract of Land not Exceeding two Thousand Acres or a grist Mill on any Tract of Land not exceeding one Thousand Acres within three Years after the Date of his or her Patent, that then and in such case, such Patentee making such Improvement on such Tract of land, shall be Deem'd and taken to have Sufficiently Cultivated such Tract of Land, or so many Acres of Land, and shall forever after hold the same as saved, any thing in the Provisoe in his or her Patent for Cultivating such Land notwithstanding.

And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if any Person who is now or shall hereafter be Possessed of any Tract of Land which ought to be Cultivated According to the Direction of this Act shall Depart this life within three Years after the Date of his or her Patent without Cultivating the same According to the Direction of this Act, and the Right of Inheritance in such Land shall come to any Infant under the age of twenty one Years, the said Infant shall be allow'd after he is of full age the same time for Cultivating or Compleating the Cultivation of such Land as remain'd unexpired at the time of the Patentees Death or the Death of the Assignee or Legatee of such Patentee; and all Patents granted heretofore to Infants by his Majesty's grants, such Infants shall be allow'd three Years after they come of age for such Cultivation; And if such Cultivation as by this Act is before mention'd shall be made within that time the same shall be Deem'd a good and Sufficient Performance of the Condition and Limitation in the said Patent Express'd in relation to Cultivating such Land, any thing therein contain'd to the contrary notwithstanding.

And it is hereby Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all Patentees of Lands Allready granted by his Majesty shall be Allow'd three Years after the Ratification of this Act to cultivate and compleat the clearing and Cultivating the Tracts of Land contain'd in their Patents; and that If said Patentees shall Cultivate or Improve the same According to the Directions of this Act before mention'd, such Cultivation or Improvement shall be Deem'd a good and sufficient Cultivation to save such Land, and all the said Patents are hereby Declared good and Valid untill the Expiration of the said three Years after the Ratification of this Act (except such as are Declar'd Surreptitiously Obtain'd by an Act Passed this Session for settling his Majesty's Quit Rents) and shall not be Deemed Lapsed for want of Cultivation any thing in the aforesaid Provisoe in their Patents in relation to Cultivation notwithstanding.

And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no Patent shall be Deem'd forfeited for want of Cultivation untill a Certificate shall be obtain'd in manner following, that is to say, the Person Desireing such grant of forfeited Land's shall first Petition the Governour or Commander in Chief, and shall in his Petition set forth the Country the land lyes in, to whom last granted, for what cause the same is become forfeited, and in what County the Grantee Resides; and the said Petitioner shall at the same time file a Copy of the said Petition in the general Court of this Province; whereupon the Clerk of the said Court is hereby required to Issue out a Writ to the Sheriff of the County where the Grantee lives to summon the Grantee to appear at the next Succeeding Court on a Certain Day to shew cause why such Land formerly granted to him and by him forfeited for want of Cultivation, may not be granted to the Petitioner, which Writ shall be served upon the Grantee by the Sheriff of the County where he resides; but if such Grantee shall not be resident in this Colony, then a Copy of the said Writ shall be serv'd upon his Attorney in the County where he resides; but in case no such Attorney can be found, then a Copy of the said writ shall be affixed at the Door of the Court House of the County where the lands lye, and also on the Door of the general Court at least forty Days before the then next Succeeding Court, and if upon the return thereof so serv'd, the Grantee or his Attorney doth not then or within fourteen Days after appear and make Sufficient Proof that the Lands Petition'd for hath been Duly Cultivated according to the Directions of this Act, then the said Court shall certifie the same to the Governour or Commander in Chief for the time being, and also that it doth Appear to the said Court that the Prosecutor was the first Petitioner for the said Land and Pursued his Petition with Effect; which Certificate shall entitule the said Petitioner to have a Patent for the said lands, or such part thereof as the Party so Petitioning shall be Intituled to by his Majesty's Instructions; which Land shall be granted in the same manner as Lands not before Granted; and if there happen to be a greater Quantity of such forfeited Land than shall be granted to the first Petitioner, then the residue of such forfeited Land shall be Granted to such other Person as shall Petition for the same under the like Proviso's and Restrictions and in the same manner as Lands not before Patented.

Provided allways that if upon Tryal it shall appear that the Lands Petitioned for shall have been Cultivated by the Patentee or his Assigns before the Exhibiting such Petition in the said Court in that case such Cultivation tho not made within three Years after the Date of the Patent shall be adjudged and is hereby Declar'd to be a sufficient Cultivation to fullfill the Provisoe Expressed in the Patent.

And be it Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that when any Land is sued for as lapsed there shall be reserved to the Patentee such Quantity of his Tract of Land as he shall prove to have made a Cultivation and Improvement Sufficient to save the same According to the Directions of this Act, and that it shall be in the Power of the Patentee or Possessor of such Land to allot the residue of such Land which shall be found to be lapsed to the Person Claiming the same in any part of the Tract in one entire Piece.

And be it Also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that when any Person who hath heretofore taken up and Patented or shall hereafter take up and Patent any Land shall have seated Planted Cultivated or Improved the said land or any part thereof According to the Directions above in this Act Prescribed and laid down such Patentee may make Proof of such seating Planting Cultivation and Improvement in the general Court or in the Court of the County where such land shall lye, and have such Proof Certified to the secretary's office and there enter'd with the Record of the said Patent, a Copy of which shall be admitted as good evidence on any Tryal to prove the Seating or Planting of such Land.

CO 5/333, fs. 22-23.
Disallowed by Privy Council in London on November 27, 1740, upon a recommendation from the Board of Trade. The board had found that “by some of the Clauses contained in this Act the Patentees of Lands in North Carolina will be Exempted from Cultivating such a Quantity of Lands as by the terms and Conditions of their Grants they were Obliged to clear and improve.” The board then expressed the fear “that this will be a means of retarding the Settlement of that Province and of weakening Your Majestys Security for the Payment of Quit Rents.” Acts of the Privy Council, 3:679.