-marks on the dial of a clock, and
by concentric circles which are a mile apart from each community center.
Each set of lines and circles extends to the community boundary, and the
farm is given a number which shows the sector in which it is located
with reference to the distance from the community center. In front of a
farm will be found a number, usually just below the mail box, such as
Alton 3-2-K. This indicates that the farm is in the direction of the 3
o'clock mark on a clock, or east, of Alton; the second term, 2, shows
that it is between two and three miles from Alton and the letter K
enables one to locate the individual farm on the small area between the
3 o'clock and 4 o'clock radial lines and the two and three mile circles.
In the directory accompanying the map the names of all householders are
arranged alphabetically and also serially by their numbers, so that the
name of the householder at a certain number of his location on the map
may be readily ascertained. This system not only makes necessary a
definite determination of the center and boundary of every community,
but the number itself relates the farm to its community. This is a
matter of considerable importance, for since the abolishment of many
rural postoffices the farmer's mail address may be on a rural route
starting from some railroad station or larger town which he visits only
occasionally, and has no reference to the community in which he lives.
The system was invented by a Colorado farmer, Mr. J. B. Plato, who
devised it so that it might be possible for buyers to find his farm. As
he claims, such a number "puts the farmer on the map" and gives his home
a definite location just as does the street number of the city
house.[96]

Finally, in any effort toward community planning it must be remembered
that most rural communities are, in a way, but parts of what, for want
of a better term, we may term larger communities. Not every small rural
community can support a library building, a hospital, a high school, a
moving picture theater, or a public health nurse. As has been pointed
out in the previous chapters, these agencies can be maintained only at
such centers as can command the support of several smaller communities.
Obviously they will tend to be located at the larger towns, such as the
county seats. Roads should be planned with regard to making these larger
centers most readily available to their tributary territory. It would
seem to be advantag