The naming of the shrew

摘要

Descending the Grapevine on California's Interstate 5, after negotiating the curves of the Tehachapi Mountains, the San Joaquin Valley opens up below you like an earth mother flinging wide her arms to welcome you to one of the most fecund farming areas in the nation. Depending on the season, the vista stretching out before you can be a tapestry of green vineyards, orchards and fields, or fog shrouded cotton bales, standing along farm roads like an army of ancient clay soldiers. You've arrived in Kern County -- cotton and cattle and carrot country. John Deere country to be sure.