The mean urease activities of the pasture and tillage counterparts of 10 soil series were 103 ± 44 and 75 ± 26 μg urea‐N hydrol. g‐1h‐1, respectively. Significantly (p<0.01) greater activity was recorded in the pasture variety of 8 series and in the tillage variety of 2 series. Multiple regression analysis showed that variations in the activities of the pasture soils (R2= 95.9%) and of 2 the tillage soils (R2= 97.3%) was attributable to variations in total‐N, unbuffered and pH‐dependent CEC, pH and silt, as well as C:N ratio in the case of the pasture group. The best‐fit regression for the latter soils was obtained when individual cations replaced CEC parameters (R2= 99.8%). Individual soil properties each accounted for a small proportion of the total variation. The results suggest that agricultural soils should be grouped by land‐use for best prediction of their urease activities. Differences between the activities of the pasture and tillage soils were highly correlated with the differences between their organic‐C and exchangeable Mg contents.