Last year the experiment was tried by the university crew of going into training after the Christmas recess instead of at the beginning of the college year. Much doubt was expressed as to the result of such a course and many wiseacres shook their heads over what they deemed the degeneracy of boating at Harvard. The time too, which was selected for the experiment seemed most unfortunate, for we lost our stroke and so many changes were made in the boat that the crew was finally selected only about three weeks before the Columbia race. Yet it has very generally been conceded that in point of style and finish the crew of 1883 was inferior to no eight Harvard has ever had. The experiment certainly seemed a success. This year a new plan has been adopted,-a compromise between the old one of training the whole year and that tried last year of training for only six months. Up to Christmas the candidates for the crew are to meet three times a week, twice to row under the able coaching of Mr. Bancroft and once for a walk in the country. No strict training is done. By this arrangement the crew is kept together, has the advantage of a coach and is not likely to grow stale and weary months before the race, as has occurred in former years. The common sense of this will suggest itself to all, for strict training during nine mouths of the year is likely to prove too great a tax for any but the most remarkable physiques.