THE HARVARD CREWS.

The CRIMSON publishes below an account of the work of the crews written by a member of the Harvard Crew at Poughkeepsie.

[Special dispatch to the CRIMSON.]HARVARD QUARTERS, CRUM'S ELBOW, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., June 18th.

The quadrangular university race at Poughkeepsie is now only a week distant. This year Harvard meets new adversaries and a glance at the respective methods of the crews is interesting.

Columbia rows a stroke consisting of a body swing prolonged very far back and ending with a short sharp leg drive. The oars are rowed out of water and the feather held almost to the catch. It is an effective stroke for a stern wind if the crew be well together.

Pennsylvania shows plainly the marks of her professional coaching. The crew has the appearance of having been coached more upon the basis of outboard than of inboard work. The body swing is fairly long fore and aft. The oars are rowed in and out of the water and the stroke looks rather labored. There has been lately a marked improvement in time and blade work.

Cornell seems to have abandoned her old time stroke for a modified copy of the English one with a fairly long body swing. The slides are held until the body is slightly back of the perpendicular and then the stroke is finished with a powerful leg drive. The arms are but slightly broken at the finish and there is a tendency to drop out at the full reach. The blade work is excellent and the shell moves smoothly through the water.

The distinctive feature of Harvard's crew this year is the stand off the stretcher from catch to finish. It is an element of the stroke in which Harvard crews have been very deficient of late years. The body swing is very long. The leg drive beginning at the catch with the shoulders thrown on hard to gain a strong position. The pressure is increased through the stroke ending in a hard finish. There is no lift in the stroke as there was last year but a horizontal drive throughout. The hands are shot away quickly and the body swing taken at the beginning of the recover. The stroke is longer and has more rhythm and swing than that of late Harvard crews. The average weight of the crew is one hundred and seventy pounds. The men are all in good condition. The crew rows twice a day regularly, the morning work being rather light and the hard rows taken about six in the evening. The 'Varsity has been practicing half mile starts with the Freshmen of late so as to be able to get at a full speed in a few strokes. The really essential difference between Harvard and her opponents is that the former prolong the leg drive from catch to finish while Columbia, Cornell and Pennsylvania use the leg drive to finish their stroke. Cornell's crew is faster than either of her last year's crews for this distance. Pennsylvania is also undoubtedly superior to last year's eight, while Columbia shows little if any improvement over her crew of Ninety-five which was however a winner. There is no doubt but that Harvard too has a much faster crew than last year. The pace for the first two miles will probably be very fast and it seems likely that Harvard will have to row faster to retain a lead over her three opponents than over an average Yale crew.

The Harvard Freshman Crew is smooth and very fast. There is no lift settling or stop between strokes to their boat. Their power is applied horizontally straight through the stroke and well together. They are all in the best of condition except stroke Boardman, who has been a trifle fine. Marvin has been put in at Donald's seat. The order of the crews for the race is as follows:

'Varsity: Stroke, Goodrich; 7, Bullard; 6, Sprague; 5, Fennessy: 4, Hollister; 3, Perkins; 2, Townsend; bow, Derby; coxswain, Rust.

Freshman: Stroke, Boardman; 7, MacDuffie; 6, Thompson; 5, Whitbeck; 4, Perkins; 3, Marvin; 2, Swift; bow, Dibblee.