Any portion of the lands of this state governed by sections 72-201 to 72-251, adjoining the site of any city or town, may be subdivided into lots and leased as herein provided. The Board of Educational Lands and Funds, being satisfied that by a division of any such tract into lots, the lease of the same can be made for a greater amount than if leased in tracts of forty acres, as herein provided, shall have the authority to employ the necessary surveyors, and cause such tracts to be subdivided into lots and tracts of such size as they may determine, and a plat of the same shall be made and filed for record in the office of the county clerk. Such lots shall be appraised by the appraisers to be appointed by the board, none of whom shall be occupants of the land to be leased. Tracts of land so subdivided and appraised shall be leased according to the provisions of said sections. The board shall give thirty days’ notice of such letting, and publish the same in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which said lots are situated. Each notice shall contain a list of the lots to be leased, and the appraised value of each. The leasing of such lots shall take place, on the day appointed, under the direction of the board, and shall be leased to the highest bidder, but in no case for less than six percent of the appraised value. Lots remaining unleased shall be again offered for lease at public auction at such time as the board shall direct, and the board may adjourn the leasing from day to day until all the lots are offered.