Alexander Crummell's application to enter the General Theological Seminary in 1839 was problematic for the Episcopal Church. Admitting the African American abolitionist would have exacerbated divisions over slavery within a denomination still recovering from the American Revolution and the Second Great Awakening. The Church's increasing financial dependence on its upper-class members was a further complication. In Northern states the social elite supported anti-abolitionist violence, whilst in the South support for the Church came predominantly from slaveholders, who opposed any form of abolitionism. In order to safeguard the Episcopal Church's future, the denomination had to reject Crummell's application.

Field studies were conducted in 1990 and 1991 at Davis and Five Points, CA to evaluate weed control with napropamide and hand-weeding and the effect on yield and profitability in transplanted bell pepper. Weed cover 8 wk after transplanting averaged less than 10% in plots hand-weeded biweekly for 6 wk after transplanting. Weed cover at harvest was less than 30% in plots hand-weeded at 8 wk after transplanting. Napropamide treatment reduced weed cover at 8 wk after transplanting an average of 34% compared to untreated plots, but differences declined to 14% at harvest. Time required to hand-weed plots was greater if the interval between weeding was 4 instead of 2 wk. The time needed to hand-weed plots was reduced from 38% to 71% by napropamide treatment. When weeds were excluded by hand-weeding for the entire season, bell pepper yielded 25 810 kg/ha and was 4% to 18% higher than other treatments. Net returns were greater for plots that were hand-weeded the entire season or when napropamide was combined with hand-weeding at 4 and 8 wk after transplanting, compared to other treatments.

John Lawrence Geib has remained an often-cited but poorly known builder of keyboard instruments since the eighteenth century. Although historians have noted his patent for an escapement mechanism used on early English square pianos after 1787, little has been written about him, and much of that has now proven to be incomplete or untrue. A letter written by Geib to Benjamin Franklin has recently been made public. It outlines his early years in London and provides the foundation for further research into the remaining records and extant instruments. This information allows one to draw a more complete and historically correct picture of Geib and to place him in perspective with the other builders operating at the time. This article gives new details about his principal invention – the escapement mechanism – and the nature of his business during his early years in London. A full reproduction of the patent is included as an appendix.