Smith offered to sell earthworms to third-party investors.

The investors entered into a contract whereby, after the purchase, Smith would raise the worms in a way that would promote massive reproduction, and he guaranteed to repurchase the worms from the investor at a certain rate based on the actual sale price to third-party farmers. Thus, an investor could purchase a certain dollar amount of worms, have Smith raise the worms and locate a farmer buyer, then have Smith repurchase the worms from the investor at a higher price than the investor’s original price based on the sale price to the farmer.