But there are further differences which have nothing to do with the system of control and management. An English University is composed of many colleges, each entirely independent, so far as the management of its affairs are concerned. An English University Boat Club is organized on the same principle. It is made up of represen tatives of all the College Boat Clubs, and combines these autonomous institutions for what may be termed Imperial purposes. College rowing at Oxford and Cambridge foments a keen and healthy rivalry, and to no small extent helps to keep up the standard of University rowing. In America, on the contrary, the University is one, and apparently indivisible. There are no colleges, and, therefore, there is no aggregation of College Boat Clubs such as we have at home. The want of this element is, no doubt, a serious disadvantage to an American University Boat Club. The only element of rivalry comes from the competition of the four different classes (i.e. years, as we should call them—freshmen ; second year men, or " sophomores ; " third-year men, or " juniors ;" and fourth-year men, or " seniors ") against one another in an eight-oared race in the spring. Beyond this there has been hitherto no internal competition between members of the University Boat Club. Compare this single race with the long series of contests in which an English University oarsman takes part. He may begin in October with the Fours, row in the Uni versity Trial Eights in December, and in the University crew in the following March. Then come the College eight-oared races in May or June, followed by Henley Regatta in July, to say nothing of pair-oar races, and sculling races, and College Club races, or of the various Thames regattas, in which he may take part during what remains of the summer. He thus gains invaluable lessons, both in watermanship and in racing experience, which are not open to his American cousin.
For this absence of competitions in an American University Boat Club, the severe American winter, which closes the rivers from about the middle of December until early in March, is only partly responsible. During October and November the rivers are open ; but up to the present very little advantage has been taken of these valuable months. At Harvard there has hitherto been no race or series of races for Fours or Pairs or Scullers, and freshmen, during their first term, have been exer cised on a rowing machine, when they might, with infinitely greater profit, have gained instruction on the water.
Early in January, when the undergraduates have returned from their short Christmas vacation, a "squad" for the University crew has generally been formed and sent to the "training-table," and the men composing it have been put into regular exercise, consisting of running varied by occasional skating, and of rowing practice every day in the tank. When the ice breaks up in March an Eight appears upon the water, and practises regularly from that time until towards the end of June, when its race against the rival University takes place. This long period of combined practice has many obvious drawbacks, which will at once strike an experi enced oarsman. I believe better results might be obtained by allowing members of the University "squad " to take part in the Class races, and then, after a period of rest, selecting the University crew.
Notwithstanding, however, all these disadvan tages, rowing at American Universities has reached a high standard — a result due to the extra ordinary earnestness and enthusiasm of those who take part in it. The American University oars
man is in every respect as strong and as well developed in physique as the average Englishman. All he lacks is the prolonged racing experience, which makes the Englishman so formidable and robust an opponent. There are men amongst the old oars of Harvard, Yale, and Cornell, who have made skilled rowing their special study, and whose knowledge of all points of the game is fully as great as that of our English oars. Yale, in par ticular, has, during the last ten years, been able to turn out some wonderfully fine and powerful crews ; but the tendency amongst the American University oarsmen, during recent years, has been to sacrifice body-swing to the mere piston action of the legs on a very long slide. There is now, however, a reaction, due to the visits paid by Cornell and Yale to Henley in 1895 and 1896, and the long body-swing and general steadiness, which are marked features of English rowing, are now being very successfully cultivated in America.
At the five chief rowing Universities—Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Cornell--it is also customary to train a freshman crew every year, not merely for the local class races, but for competition against one another, the races taking place a few days before those in which the Uni versity crews compete. This year Yale defeated Harvard by something more than a length, Harvard being about three-quarters of a length ahead of Cornell. The race—a two-mile one—was very severe, and the crews, considering their material, showed, on the whole, better form than that dis played by the University crews. A week later the Cornell freshmen defeated those from Penn sylvania and Columbia over the same course. It is surprising to see what good results can be obtained from these freshmen crews. The men composing them have, for the most part, not rowed before coming to the University ; they have had no graduated system of instruction on fixed seats. Up to March, all their rowing has been done on hydraulic machines in the gymnasium. They then launch a sliding-seat Eight and prac tise for the Class races at the beginning of May. After that they are carefully taken in hand, and trained for their race in June against the other Universities. It is from this freshman crew, and from the older hands, who may have been rowing in the Class races, that the 'Varsity crew of the following year will be recruited.
The number of students at American Univer sities is thus stated in Mr. Caspar Whitney's book : Harvard, 31oo ; Yale, 2400 ; Pennsylvania, 250o ; Columbia, 16o0 ; Cornell, 180o ; as against about 240o at Oxford, and 280o at Cambridge.
I ought to add that the use of swivel rowlocks is almost universal in America, and that all their Eights are built with the seats directly in a line in the centre of the boat. Boats of papier mache have had a great vogue, their builder being Waters of Troy ; but there is now a reaction in favour of cedar boats, as being stiffer and more durable. The Harvard and Yale boats this year were built by Davy of Cambridge (Mass.), and were beautiful specimens of the art. American boats, however, cost at least twice as much as English boats. T. Donoghue, of Newburgh, N.Y., makes most of the oars that are used in first-class racing. They are lighter by a full pound than our English oars, and are every bit as stiff. It is a real pleasure to row with them.