310 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



A MISSOURI MENTOR OF THE CATTLE RING 



120. Seldom does it become the lot of man to gain so close a 

 personal relationship to his fellows, to stimulate and sustain by 

 sound counsels so large a coterie of livestock students, and to 

 influence so many men to adopt higher ideals of husbandry, as 

 befell GEORGE PURDY BELLOWS, Shorthorn breeder, auction sales- 

 man and representative of the agricultural press. Few men 

 indeed have had so broad and accurate a knowledge of the vari- 

 ous breeds of livestock, and fewer still his judicious understand- 

 ing of pedigrees and his keen sense of values in cattle form and 

 quality. The untimeliness of his death, February 17, 1913, 

 shocked not only his Shorthorn colleagues, but the entire fra- 

 ternity of agricultural workers in America. 



COL. BELLOWS was born in the Prairie State, July 19, 1862, 

 under the shadow of the present University of Illinois. At three 

 years of age his parents removed to Guilford, Mo., in whose 

 public schools he received his early education. Following gradu- 

 ation he put in two years at the University of Missouri. In 1881 

 he entered partnership in Shorthorn breeding with his father, 

 FRANK BELLOWS, and his brothers, under the firm name of 

 BELLOWS & SONS. Two years later the family moved to Mary- 

 ville, Mo., where Valley Home Farm was founded. 



At this time COL. BELLOWS embarked on a separate career. 

 He taught in public school and was made deputy county clerk 

 for Nodaway county. In 1888 he repurchased an interest in 

 Valley Home Farm, but five years later he decided to assume 

 additional responsibilities by becoming livestock advertising 

 solicitor for the PIERCE publications, notably the Iowa Home- 

 stead and the Livestock Indicator. In 1904 he dropped this work 

 to become an auctioneer of a pedigreed stock, a profession fol- 

 lowed until his death. 



On the death of his father, the firm name became BELLOWS 

 BROS., and COL. BELLOWS became interested in building up the 



