In the Rural World Mr. Husmann gives an account of a visit to this well-known raiser of seedling grapes, and says:

"We had expected to find Mr. Ricketts' seedling grapes highly cultivated and in a favorable location; we had somehow got the idea into our head that they were very much pampered and petted; we had twice admired his grapes at exhibitions, and they seemed to us too fine to be produced by ordinary culture. We found just the reverse of this, they were poorly cultivated, pruned very long, had an excessive crop of grapes, and we do not think the location a favorable one. We think it but just to Mr. Ricketts to state this; and he has certainly achieved remarkable success".