This Day in History (1967): Review agricultural progress at Qatif

From the April 11, 1973, edition of The Arabian Sun

More than 30 agricultural experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, the College of Sciences at Riyadh University, and from Aramco attended the first seminar on vegetables and palm trees held at the Qatif Experimental Farm, March 31 to April 3.

The purpose of the seminar is to keep agricultural experts in the Kingdom abreast of recent agricultural progress in the Eastern Province and to find ways of improving the agricultural research and extension in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Muhammad as-Sa’di, Director General of Agricultural Research and Development and chairman of the seminar, stressed during the opening session the role of research in developing the various fields of agriculture.

He also emphasized that studies indicate there is great opportunity for expansion in agricultural production through the use of modern techniques, pest control, proper amounts of fertilizer, good seeds, and proper water management.

Also on this date

2012 – A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake is VII (very strong). Ten are killed, 12 are injured, and a non-destructive tsunami is observed on the island of Nias

1977 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched

1976 – The Apple I is created

1970 – Apollo Program: Apollo 13 is launched

1964 – Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected president by the National Congress

1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey

1969 – David Bowie releases the single "Space Oddity" 9 days before Apollo 11 lands on the moon

1868 – Former shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate

1814 – The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time

1405 – Chinese fleet commander Zheng He sets sail on his first major expedition, to the Spice Islands, leading 208 vessels, including 62 treasure ships with 27,800 sailors

491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I