Give them a common class, iterate over them with .each(), and use .delay(), multiplying the current index number of the iteration by the duration.
Example: http://jsfiddle.net/patrick_dw/jPeAp/
html
<div class="animation">Hello!</div>
<div class="animation">Jquery Animate!</div>
<div class="animation">Hello!</div>
<div class="animation">Jquery Animate!</div>
js
$('.animation').each(function( index ) {
$(this).delay( index * 700 ).fadeIn();
});
This way it will automatically work for any number of elements.
In the loop, index will be 0, 1, 2, etc.. So the delay will be 0, 700, 1400, etc.
EDIT:
If you can't give the elements a common class, then just group the IDs into one multiple selector.
$('#animation1,#animation2,#animation3,#animation4').each(function( index ) {
$(this).delay( index * 700 ).fadeIn();
});