"GOD made the country." Men will some day learn the truth of this aphorism. They will learn also to combine with it the thought that broad fields, sunshine, the rains and the dews, are in no way incompatible with a high life and social culture. So we regard every movement looking in this direction as an evolution in civilization. The latest proposition for the socializing of the country comes from California, and it is known as the "ten-block system*' of numbering land and houses. "The system is to divide each mile along the roads into ten equal parts, or imaginary blocks, of 528 feet, 176 yards, or 8 chains each, and assign to each block two numbers, one on each side of the road. Any and every house located within a block is given the number of the block. The first one - and in nearly every case it will be the only one in the block - has simply the number; the second one has the same number, followed by the letter A; the third by the letter B; the fourth by C, and so on - Nos. 196, 196A, 196B, 196C, etc.

If there is no house in the block, the number is assigned to it just the same, and it remains in readiness should a house be built at a future time.*'

The further details of the system are few, but we cannot present them here. This is the first practicable attempt yet made, so far as we are aware, to know and record the inhabitants of the country. The movement is spreading in the Golden State, and it ought to spread in every township in the land. The advantages it presents are numerous and important. The traveler could instantly compute distances and acquire directions. The numbers on the gate-posts or over the doors would be milestones. Country directories could be published. But above all, it would quicken communication and intercourse in the country. It would be a powerful civilizer.

To make this feasible, a system of naming country roads must be inaugurated, and this, too, our California friends are perfecting. In Contra Costa county, lying against San Francisco, are such charming bits as the following: Contra Costa Highway, running through the county and striking the county seat; Rio Vista, Mountain Drive, Willow Pass Road, Golden Gate Way, Lime Ridge Crossing, Stanley Road, and the like. We know of nothing so good as this since the efforts of dear old Jacob Bigelow in naming the walks and drives of Mt. Auburn.

All this could add much charm to the country, for it would personify nature, commemorate events, and localize sentiments. The ten-block system idea originated with A. L. Bancroft, of San Francisco, who has large orchards in Contra Costa county. He wondered why the country in these respects could not pattern after the city. Now we are wondering why we had not thought of it ourselves - but this is always the way with good thoughts !