We present the results of our BVR-band photometric and R-band
polarimetric observations of ∼40 stars in the periphery of the dark
cloud CB54. From different photometric data, we estimate E(B - V) and
E(J - H). After involving the data from other sources, we discuss the
extinction variations towards CB54. We reveal two main dust layers: a
foreground (E(B - V) ≍ 0.1 mag) at ∼200pc and an extended
layer ( $E(B-V) \gtrsim 0.3$ mag) at ∼1.5kpc, with CB54 belonging
to the latter. Based on these results, we consider the reason for rather
random polarization map observed by us for CB54. We find that the
foreground is characterized by low polarization ( $P \lesssim 0.5$
percent) and the magnetic field parallel to the Galactic plane. The
extended layer shows high polarization (P up to 5-7percent). We suggest
that the field in this layer is nearly perpendicular to the Galactic
plane and both layers are essentially inhomogeneous. This allows us to
generally explain the randomness of polarization vectors around CB54.
The data primarily observed by us for CB54, then by Sen etal. (2000,
2010) for three dark clouds CB3, CB25, CB39 and by other authors for a
region including B1 cloud are analysed to explore any correlation
between polarization, the near-IR (E(J - H)) and optical (E(B - V))
excesses, and the distance to the background stars. If polarization and
extinction are caused by the same set of dust particles, we should
expect good correlations. However, we find that for all the clouds the
correlations are not strong.