There is another remarkable feature of the Japanese gardeners art.  He dwarfs trees so that they remain measurable only by inches after their age has reached scores, even hundreds, of years, and the proportions of leaf, branch and stem are preserved with fidelity.  The pots in which these wonders of patient skill are grown have to be themselves fine specimens of the keramists craft, and as much as 200 [sic] is sometimes paid for a notably well trained tree. 1

1    "JAPAN." LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia. © 2003, 2004 LoveToKnow.  Section I. Geography, Flora, http://60.1911encyclopedia.org/J/JA/JAPAN.htm.    This text seems to be uncorrected optical character scan.  The currency for the '200' figure is not given.  Elsewhere on the page some quantities are given followed specifically by either the term "yen" or "sterling."  From other references of this time period USD ($) appears to be the value. 

There does not appear to be any mention of dwarf trees in the article on China in the Encyclopedia.