Except as otherwise provided in chapter 3A of this title, all public lands within the State of Alabama, whether mineral or otherwise, shall be subject to disposal only as agricultural lands. All lands which had been reported to the General Land Office prior to March 3, 1883, as containing coal and iron shall first be offered at public sale.

All lands designated as agricultural in the reclassification of the public lands of Alabama by the Secretary of the Interior under authority of Act March 27, 1906 (chapter 1347, section 1, Thirty-fourth Statutes, page 88), shall be subject to homestead entry as such.