A correspondent writes from Yale to a New York paper that he thinks her inferiority in boating is largely caused by the close policy carried out by the managers of the Yale navy. It has been their policy during the last few years to keep everything about the 'varsity crew secret, and to allow no one to approach them white on the water. They never pull against another crew till they meet us for the final tug on the Thames. The only method which they have of ascertaining what speed their crew can get on is that of time rows, and the record of these is below par. Bent on an opposite policy, our crew has always been glad to meet other shells on the river. Many brushes take place with the class crews, and sometimes with the Union and other crews from Boston rowing on the "basin," all of which serve to show the defects of the individual members and of the crew as a whole to the coach sitting in the stern. The better the crew our eight chances to meet in this way, the more practice they derive from the spurt. Then the June regattas of the Union club are useful whenever they can get anything to match our eight. When the last of June comes and the final races, our men have had many faults, which can only be ascertained in this way, eradicated, and therefore come to the scratch as nearly perfect as possible.

A channel in which this policy may be directed to advantage is in the management of the nine. Yale manages every spring to secure as many appointments as possible for their nine to play with the strongest teams which can be found, When the time comes for the college matches, her men, although they may be no better men than ours, have a degree of confidence in themselves, a determination not to be disconcerted whatever happens, begotten by many hard games, which serve them most advantageously when they are in a tight place. With the stringent policy of our faculty concerning base-ball it would seem to be impossible for our nine to get practice of the kind which can only be obtained by matches with strong clubs.

They are thus without those qualities which are calculated to give them "nerve" at critical points in a game, and for this reason often go to pieces before a weaker nine because they happen to be for the moment at a disadvantage. How much more so is this the case when their opponents are the champions of a year before. The nine are doing all in their power at present to place themselves in the field in good condition for the intercollegiate matches, and it only remains for the faculty to place them on an equality with other college nines regarding outside matches, in order that they may push themselves to the front as the champions of 1884.