Mr. Davy, of Cambridge, has got his eight-oared shell well under way. It is a very good looking craft; the builder has avoided as much as possible the faults of being at taught to any one idea. Mr. Davy is trying to make a boat which will move steadily through the water; he insists that it must be neither too high nor too low in the water, that it must not be too flat-bottomed nor too full forward; he tries to make her stiff and fairly light. The Harvard crew is to try her when she is ready and if she proves useful they will buy her. There has been a great rage lately among rowing men for boats with full lines fore and aft. Mr. Davy thinks this has been carried too far: the boats built four or five years ago were faster than the present ones.
The new boathouse is almost finished and will be ready for use by the first of April. A float is building which will be ready as soon as the boats. Orders have been given to Blaikie and Davy for 21 boats including fours, pairs, doubles, and singles. The only trouble with the borts is that they were not ordered early enough. The resignation of Mr. Agassiz from the committee on boats has left, or did leave, no one to direct the work of getting them ready. An order was given to Blaikie for several single shells with one lap-like those used by the Union Boat club, but when the builder went to find out what the Union boats were like he found three species of the same genus. Having nobody to look to Mr. Blaikie had to wait many weeks to find some one to give him more explicit orders. It is not probable that the boat-house will have its full complement of boats this year. but enough will be got ready to furnish rowing to a large number of men.
It is said that the interest in boating in all parts of the country is greater this year than it has ever been before. The Cambridge boat builders are rushed with work and have received many orders from all parts of America.
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