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to just what their titles cover. The matter was well stirred up this fall, 
and it is likely that settled convictions as to boundaries will be mutually 
arrived at during the coming winter, and thus your surveys be helped 
along. 
DARIEN AND STAMFORD. 
The surveys off these towns have been confined to applications, and 
the obtaining of data which should make it quite safe for deeding. The 
records are difficult to handle, and these applications may be regarded 
as nuclei about which to base operations the coming season. 
GREENWICH. 
The surveys off this town are well advanced. The natural beds, five 
in number, are surveyed and mapped. Forty-two applications, together 
with a considerable number of town grants, have been mapped. 
‘“ IMPROVEMENTS IN THE OFFICE WORK. 
The difficulties arising from the expansion and contraction of the 
paper on which the maps on ascale of I in 20,000 are constructed, were 
reduced to a minimum by obtaining from the coast survey office cloth- 
backed paper, which was thoroughly seasoned. When not in use these 
maps are rolled up and put in tin cans in the safe. These maps are not 
altogether free from expansion and contraction, and in my judgment the 
rolling and unrolling of them injures them for fine scale work. 
It seems very desirable that the maps be kept flat and made on 
material which is not affected by temperature and moisture. 
The following example will illustrate the nicety with which your 
maps need to be constructed. On a scale of I in 20,000, a fortieth of 
an inch represents forty-one and seven-tenths feet. This multiplied by 
3,000 (the length of the lots off Stratford), gives an area of two and 
eight-tenths acres. Five hundred bushels of oysters to the acre is not 
uncommon, and at one dollar per bushel we find this fortieth of an inch, 
as it shows on the map, represents a cash value of $1,400. 
It is the consideration of such facts that causes me to recommend the 
use of perfectly invariable paper. Considerable inconvenience was 
experienced this season by reason of not having a sextant protractor 
for field use. I recommend that the sextant protractor, now in use at 
the office, be used in the field next season, and a new Sextant protractor 
be obtained, made in accordance with the specifications on file. I deem 
this new protractor to be essential to the proper conduct of your work. 
The one now in use was the best instrument made for ordinary hydro- 
graphic work. But hydrographic work, such as you are called upon to 
perform, is not common, and so it follows, that articles usually made 
for the trade may not suffice for all your requirements. 
