Applications adverse to the State, in conflict with swamp-land claims, will be governed by the following rules:

(a) In those States where the adjudication of swamp-land claims is based on the evidence contained in the survey returns, applications adverse to the State for lands returned as swamp will be rejected unless accompanied by a showing that the land is non-swamp in character.

(b) In such case, the claim adverse to the State must be supported by a statement of the applicant under oath, corroborated by two witnesses, setting forth the basis of the claim and that at the date of the swamp-land grant the land was not swamp and overflowed and not rendered thereby unfit for cultivation. In the absence of such affidavit the application will be rejected. If properly supported, the application will be received and suspended subject to a hearing to determine the swamp or nonswamp character of the land, the burden of proof being upon the non-swamp claimant.

(c) In those States where the survey returns are not made the basis for adjudication of the swamp-land selections, junior applications for lands covered by swamp-land selections may be received and suspended, if supported by non-swamp affidavits corroborated by two witnesses, subject to hearing to determine the character of the land, whether swamp or non-swamp, and the burden of proof will be upon the junior applicant. Likewise, the State, if a junior applicant, may be heard upon furnishing an affidavit corroborated by two witnesses alleging that the land is swamp in character within the meaning of the swamp-land grant, in which case the burden of proof at the hearing will be upon the State.

(d) Where hearings are ordered in any such cases, the Rules of Practice governing contests will be applied, except as herein otherwise provided.