[New shoot]

..gift to get back into her good books after the debacle at the allotments.  Alice was a very grown up and good looking young lady these days and Silas was hopelessly smitten with her.

She had asked for a ton of well rotted manure and a new spade, but ...

[Growster...]

...Silas, beginning to understand the 'needs' of a growing lad, had gone onto the internet, (on the advice of a passing computer salesman), which hadn't been invented, and sought solace in online shopping sites for gifts such as...