Since 1880 there has taken place not only the complete appropriation of the free public domain but also the disposal by sale of the easily cultivable school, university, and asylum lauds. On August 31, 1880, the unsold land belonging to the special funds, including the capitol lands, amounted to 29,528,150 acres, and the amount of free land belonging to the state was estimated at 19,069,890, making a total of 48,598,040 acres to be disposed of. As there were no free public lands in 1912 and as the amount unsold belonging to the special funds was about four million acres, nearly forty-five million acres had been parted with by the state and the special funds since 1880. Not all of New England and Delaware together equal in land area the amount of land parted with. Though the best lands for cultivation are gone, Texas has a coast line of some four hundred miles, and lying along it are many acres of unsurveyed and undrained land which belong to the state. Drainage of these lands and the reclamation and mining of the western lands may make the remaining public lands valuable and useful.