One of the primary shortcomings of the Homestead Act of 1862, a program through which the federal government offered free plots of land to US citizens willing to establish farms in the American West, was that the plots were too small to sustain a farm. Land in the semiarid Great Plains region received twenty or fewer inches of rain per year, so plots there were best left half unplanted each growing season to conserve water. 1.4 With farms consisting of a mere 160 acres, however, this practice would not have produced sufficient harvests. 2.21 Granted, raising cattle was impossible because the tiny homesteads would quickly become overgrazed. According to geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell, sustainable homesteads on the Great Plains actually needed to be a staggering 2,560 acres.
Select an answer
1.4
NO CHANGE
Farms consisted
Farms that consisted
Farms, consisting
2.21
NO CHANGE
That is to say,
Nevertheless,
Moreover,
　　名词解释：Homestead Act
　　Homestead Act《宅地法》于1862年由林肯签署命令颁布，它规定，凡一家之长或年满21岁、从未参加叛乱之合众国公民，在宣誓获得土地是为了垦殖目的、并缴纳10美元费用后，均可登记领取总数不超过160英亩宅地，登记人在宅地上居住并耕种满5年，就可获得土地执照而成为该项宅地的所有者。《宅地法》一方面增加了国库收入，另一方面又满足了西部农民的垦殖要求，并打击了南方的奴隶主。