380 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Gentlemen, if you, as progressive agriculturists, carry 

 away hut one thought with you to-day as a result of our 

 talk, let it be this : If our experiment stations in the United 

 States are to be successful, in that they are to l)ring to light 

 knowledge that is to be of permanent value to agriculture, 

 that knowledoe must be ol^tained throuirh men who have the 

 scientific training as well as the time necessary for investi- 

 gation. 



II. 



"Work of Some of the German Stations. 



I now ask your attention to a more detailed study of some 

 of the work recently accomplished, or now in progress, at 

 several of the German stations. I have selected for our 

 consideration four stations that I believe are now eno:ao:ed 

 in important agricultural research : namely, the station at 

 Gottingen, directed l)y Professor Lehmann, the successor 

 to the late Professor Henneberg ; the Halle station, under 

 the supervision of Professor Maercker ; the station at 

 Bernburg, directed by Professor Helh'iegel ; and, finally, 

 the one at Darmstadt, conducted by Prof. Paul AVagner. 



A. Experiment Station at Gottingen. 



The experiment station at Gottingen, in the province of 

 Hanover, was established June 3, 1857, with Dr. Henneberg 

 (afterwards Professor Hennel)erg) as its director, a position 

 which he held till his death, in Xovcnibci-, 181)0. 



Its principal work has ever been —and for the last 

 twenty years exclusively — the study of the ])roblems of 

 animal nutrition. The work accomplished has given the 

 name of Hennel)erg a world-wide reputation. When Hen- 

 neberg l)egan his investigations, very little was known con- 

 cerninij: the laws "overnino; the feeding of domestic animals. 

 The so-called "hay value" theory of Thaers was then in 

 vogue, but when put into })ractice it led oftentimes to ex- 

 ceedingly unsatisfactory results. For example, hay was 

 held to be the normal or standard fodder for farm animals ; 

 and it was attempted, by means of equivalent numbers, to 



