BELGIUM. 



I. THE "MODERN VIIvLAGE " 

 AT THE GHENT UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION. 



SOURCE. 



L,E VILLAGE MODERNE A L'EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE ET INTERNATIONALE DE GaND I913. 



Evolution agricole- Esthetique rurale - Fermes - Edifices - Pavilions - Jardins -I^afamille 

 rurale-Bibliographie- Notes, comptes rendus, vues et plans {The Modern Villa'^e at the 

 Ghent Universal Exhibition, 191 3 -^ ^ricuUural Progress - Rural Esthetics - Farms - Build- 

 ings ' Pavilions - Gardens - The Farmer's - Family . Bibliography - Notes, Reports, Views 

 and Plans), Eiited by the Committee of Studies for the "Modern Village", under the 

 direction of M. Paul de Vuvst, General Manager at the Department of Agriculture 

 and 'Public Works, with Preface by M. Emile Tibbaut, Member of the Chamber of 

 Representatives and President of the Superior Board of Agriculture, Brussels. Goemaere, 

 Printer to the King, 19 13. 



In connection with the Tenth International Congress of Agriculture, 

 which was held at Ghent from the 8th. to the 13th. of last June, in which 

 the most important problems now under consideration in the world of 

 science and agricultural economy were dealt with (i), as we know, there was 

 also a " Universal Exhibition ", which, as very many States took part in it, 

 contributing rich exhibits of their industrial and agricultural produce, was 

 equally interesting and instructive. But perhaps the most original and suggest- 

 ive part of it, which will leave an indelible impression on the minds of the 

 visitors, as it was especially capable of arousing ideas, and favouring studies 

 tnd entreprise among those who have the destinies of agriculture at 

 heart, was the "Modern Village". What is to be understood by this? 

 What was its origin and the intention in the mind of its organizers ? We 

 shall briefly explain. A special pubhcation, issued in illustration and to 

 record the happy innovation, by. M. de Vuyst, with whom the idea origin- 

 ated, gives u? an opportunity. 



j I. The " MODERN VILI.AGE " AND ITS OBJECT. 



The depopulation of the country districts is recognised to-da}'' as one 

 of the most serious problems of agricultural economics. The phenomenon 

 is more or less apparent in almost every country of Europe as well as in 



(i) See Bulletin of Economic and Social Intelligence, December. 191 3. pp. 93 et seqq. 



