I remember such ads in Field and Stream, perhaps, back a few years after "The War", i.e. WWII, but I too am getting the disease....

[a news.google advanced archive search pulls up a couple of ghits for "grow worms" in the 1940s. I found a 1954 article in something called the SPORTSMAN'S DIGESTS on how to raise worms in your garbage. This is getting close, perhaps.]

Albert,

Thanks, I'll have to do a google search. I was just curious. I've been reading this forum and thinking about worms.
I'm sure I remember the ads as a kid because I was a little businessman, selling hamsters to the pet store, and it caught my eye.
It would be funny these days to see one of the old ads. It might be the first guy that ever sold worms through the mail!
Bubba