MID-VALLEY
COTTON GIN
Brazos Valley, TEXAS
Texas
A&M University students visit the Mid-Valley Cotton Gin as an
educational
field trip for Biology
328 "Plants and People." Owner Andy Scamardo gives a tour
that
takes the class through the entire ginning process, from the
surrounding
cotton fields to the finished bales of high-quality cotton. These
images were taken by Dr.
James Manhart and Dr.
Hugh Wilson, Department of
Biology.
Cotton cultivated in Texas is Gossypium
hirsutum, in
the Malvaceae (Mallow Family). We grow it as an annual, but in
tropical
climates this species can grow to nearly treelike proportions.
The
flowers resemble those of a close relative, the genus Hibiscus.
The petals may be white, pink, or yellow. Note the
palmately-lobed
and palmately-veined leaves.
The cotton "boll" is a dehiscent capsule (first three
images below). Cotton "lint" is the coma, or seed hair, which
must
be removed from the seed before it can be processed further (last
image).
This separation is called ginning.
To see images from the cotton gin, click HERE
for page 1, or HERE for page 2
This website was created by course Teaching Assistant Amanda
Neill in 1998. Last updated 2007/09/07.
