Threads 69: Bed Bug traps

This bed bug trap is an amazing use of willow and basketry. I first learned about it when visiting the Rural Museum at Reading University in England many years ago.

Before the age of trains and buses, the mode of public transportation, for many people was horse-drawn carriages. Along the roads, there were many coaching inns. This is where the problem of bedbugs occurred, and was solved by the use of willow. 

It was discovered that bedbugs were very attracted to willow branches, and so the bed bug trap was invented.

Using fresh willow, a small flat rectangular mat measuring about eight inches by 24 inches was woven.  Each evening this was placed below the roaster or pillow in the bed, and removed each morning by the housemaid. She would open the window and shake it outside, removing any bedbugs that has been brought in during the night by guests.

During the 80s I remember that there was quite a problem of bedbugs with people hitchhiking across the country. What a shame that people did not know of this simple cure.

The image above is from the historical reference at the attached link:

https://professorhedgehogsjournal.uk/2015/07/21/the-professor-of-basket-making/