Whenever any resident of this State desires to purchase any part of the 150,000 acres of land granted to the State for the use of an agricultural college, he shall make an affidavit before any officer authorized to administer oaths, that he is a citizen of the United States or, if an alien, that he has filed his intention of becoming a citizen, a resident of the State, of lawful age; that he desires to purchase land, giving a description thereof by legal subdivisions; that there are no improvements of any kind on the land other than those of the applicant, or if there are improvements other than his own, he shall state that such improvements are the property of (giving his name), and have been upon the land for three months or over, and that the township has been sectionized and the plats of survey filed in the land office of the district in which the land is located, for three months or over. The application shall be forwarded to the said land agent of the university.