46 CITRUS TREES AND THEIR DISEASES 



The tall waving trees and blossoms 

 More graciously wave in the sky, 



To praise their friend and co-worker 

 To all of the passers-by. 



All hail to the Burbanks and Messicks, 

 Producers of beauty and work; 



Are friends and the benefactors 

 Of all of the children of earth. 



Oh, turn ye the guns into plow shares, 

 And pruning hooks too; and you can, 



And make of destroyers, producers, 

 All hail to the million tree man. 



Through long years of toiling and pruning, 

 With eyes lifted up toward the sun ; 



His sight at last was the price he paid 

 E'er he nature's secrets had won. 



This man with the million tree record, 

 This wizard and friend of the trees 



Will kindly now address you, 

 So listen attentively, please. 



He launched many organizations, 



That long have flourished and grown ; 



He labored to prosper the many 



Without thought of gain for his own. 



C. H. Williamson, of Quincy, Illinois, the man of 

 the thousand acres, said: 



"Doctor Messick is a wizard." Later Mr. Wil- 

 liamson, at the Mississippi Apple Growers Association, 

 of which Mr. Messick is the founder, said : 



"I have known Mr. Messick for a long time and 

 know of his numerous and wonderful demonstrations. 

 I consider Mr. Messick is an exception among men, so 

 far as knowledge of trees is concerned." 



