1791. The stake is any straight piece of wood of an inch or two in diameter, and from one to four feet in length. There are two sorts; the one short and thick, of one foot or eighteen inches in length, and used, by being driven into the ground in levelling, as resting-places for the level, or fixed indications of surface alterations; the other, comparatively slender and lone, may either be covered with whitewash, or the lower half dipped in whitewash, and the upper half in a black wash, or they may be painted as the staffs. The last kind is used for tracing out lines of any description, or for indicating the situations of trees or other objects. Twigs and bits of lath are commonly used as substitutes, but wherever correctness is any object, the trifling expense of two or three hundred of such stakes should not deter gardeners from procuring them.
