How can you enclose as many acres of land
as there are twelve-foot rails to a fence?
 

Here is a pretty puzzle from the Lone Star State, intro-
ducing a famous old problem and a bit of American history
with which many of our readers are doubtless familiar.
Texas was practically settled, or rather overrun, by the
Americans as far back as 1830, but it was not until the
end of fifteen years of fighting the Mexicans and Indians
that it was admitted into the Union.  Shortly after that
date the famous squatter law was introduced which gave a
settler free all the land he could inclose or cultivate
within a year from the time of taking possession.

Some of the early settlers had pretty hard times, but the
descendants of such as managed to "stick it out," as they
termed it, now rank among the great cattle kings of the
world, and, according to an official report just issued,
some of the most wealthy landed proprietors of the world
are Indians.  Among the great ranchers of the West, whose
owners would not be appalled by the size of the flocks of
"white bulls and dappled bulls that grazed on the plains
of Sicily," as grandiloquently described by Archimedes,
may be mentioned the comfortable ranch of Texas Pete, a
half-breed Indian.  He was among the first to take up
land under the squatter act which gave him ownership of
all the land he could inclose or cultivate within one
year.

According to his own story - and he is still a hale and
hearty man, although well beyond the three score years
and ten allotment - he and his wife were to receive all
the land they could inclose with a three-rail fence
within twelve months, so for one whole year he and his
wife were putting up this fence.  From this story we
derive the following curious problem:  Let us suppose
that the tract of land is exactly square and is inclosed
by a three-rail fence, as shown in the sketch, and that
each rail is exactly twelve feet long.    If we assume
that there are just as many acres inclosed as there are
rails in the entire fence (and recall that 43,560 square
feet makes one acre), then how many acres of land are in
Texas Pete's great cattle ranch?