lee (80 Hybrids... 
The 187 Hybrids did not ‘‘just happen.’’ Twenty- 
eight years of constant study of how the corn 
plant grows, 28 years of selecting the plants with 
strong and desirable traits, 28 years of decisions 
as to whether this inbred is not strong enough or 
those inbreds should be crossed—millions of de- 
cisions that had to be made in those 28 years— 
comprise the background of the 187 Hybrids. 
This background began more than 28 years ago 
when Lester Pfister became interested in the 
theory of inbreeding and spent many _ hours 
studying the basic laws of heredity. Then fol- 
lowed the many thousands of inbreeding experi- 
ments, the culling and sorting, the checking and 
re-checking of data, the heartbreaking failures 
of some promising lines, and finally success repre- 
sented by a few dwarfed, seemingly insignificant 
inbred ears. 
Merle Fulton and Lester Pfister inspecting ear development in one of the inbred plots. 
in the research program since 1936. 
Although the inbred ears appeared insignificant, 
their inherent possibilities were immediately ap- 
parent when they were crossed in the proper 
combinations. From these and later inbreds have 
come the 16 different strains that make up the 
187 Hybrid family. 
Lester Pfister gave his first hybrid seed to his 
friends and neighbors. As nearby farmers learned 
of the great advantages of hybrid over open- 
pollinated seed, they came to Mr. Pfister to buy 
his hybrids. Today, thousands of farmers through- 
out the entire Corn Belt plant Lester Pfister’s own 
seed—the 187 Hybrids. The policy governing 
the preparation and sale of the 187 Hybrids is 
founded on a statement made many years ago 
by Lester Pfister—‘‘l will not offer for sale any 
seed that | would not plant on my own farm if 
farming were my only source of income.” 
Merle has been assisting Lester 
