If partition cannot be made, and the property shall have been valued and appraised, any one or more of the parties may elect to take the same at the appraisement, and the court may direct the sheriff to make a deed to the party or parties so electing, on payment to the other parties of their proportion of the appraised value. Such election shall be filed within twenty (20) days of the filing of the commissioners' report provided that the court may, before expiration of the said twenty (20) days, fix a different and longer period for the filing of elections.