The first of the agricultural research stations to be founded was the now famous one of Moeckern, near Leipzig. It was instituted in the year 1851. Others followed, until at the present day there are some seventy to eighty of these _Versuchs-Stationen_ scattered throughout Germany, all well equipped and doing excellent work. Some idea of the activity of the German stations may be inferred when it is stated that up to the year 1877 the total number of papers embodying the results of their experiments published by them amount to over 2000.[16] To trace the development of agricultural chemistry, subsequent to Liebig's time, in the way it has been done prior to the year 1840, is no longer possible. This is due to the enormous increase in the number of workers in the field, as also to the overlapping nature of their work, which renders a strict chronological record wellnigh an impossibility. It will be better, therefore, to attempt to give a brief statement of our present knowledge on the subject, naming the chief workers in the various departments of the subject. _The Rothamsted Experiments._ Before doing so, it is fitting that reference should be made to the work and experiments of two living English chemists, who have done much to contribute to our knowledge in every branch of the science--viz., Sir John Lawes, Bart., and Sir J. H. Gilbert, F.R.S. The fame of the Rothamsted experiments is now world-wide; and no single experiment station has ever produced such an amount of important work as the magnificently equipped research station at Rothamsted. The Rothamsted station may be said to date from 1843, although Sir John Lawes was engaged in carrying out field experiments for ten years previous to that date.[17] In 1843 Sir John Lawes associated with himself the distinguished chemist Sir J. H. Gilbert, and the numerous papers since published have almost invariably borne the two names. The expense of working the station has been borne entirely by Sir John Lawes himself; who has further set aside a sum of L100,000, the Laboratory, and certain areas of land, for the continuance of the investigations after his death. The fields under experimentation amount to about fifty acres. By a Trust-deed, which was signed on February 14, 1889, Sir John Lawes has made over the Rothamsted Experimental Station to the English nation, to be managed by trustees. It is impossible to enter, in any detail, into the nature and scope of the Rothamsted experiments.[18] It may be stated that, since the year 1847, some eighty papers have been published on field experiments, and experiments on vegetation; while thirty papers have been published recording experiments on the feeding of animals.[19]